Gomez gained much experience during this seven-year period as a newspaper writer. His work in Sacramento, San Jose and later as a national baseball writer and general sports columnist for "The Arizona Republic" in Phoenix from 1997 to 2003 led to ESPN's hiring of him in 2003 to work at "SportsCenter". Gomez specialized in baseball reporting for ESPN and followed Barry Bonds for the better part of three seasons as Bonds pursued Hank Aaron for the all-time MLB home run record. Gomez's favorite event that he covered was Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series, when Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman attempted to catch a foul ball against the Miami Marlins, who went on to score eight times in the inning. In 2016, Gomez went to Cuba to cover an exhibition game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national team, the first visit by an MLB club in almost two decades. He also appeared on "Baseball Tonight" and other studio shows.