An Interview with Astros OF Justin Gominsky

Justin Gominsky, a long, lanky outfielder drafted in the 11th round in 2011 out of the University of Minnesota, hasn't had the smoothest transition into professional baseball, experiencing untimely injuries and personal adversity. But you'd never guess any of that when talking to him. Gominsky is one of the most positive, upbeat individuals you would ever care to meet. Full of life, energy and enthusiasm, it is not surprising that he has carried the nickname GoGo with him for years now. And that makes his stint on "Team Rehab" at Extended Spring Training all that much harder to endure.

Justin Gominsky - Spring Training 2013

Photo by Jayne Hansen

I caught up with Gominsky by phone last week. This is what he had to say [edited for brevity and clarity].

On his injury and being held back at Extended Spring Training: "I’m on Team Rehab. Team Rehab indeed. I was swinging off a T two weeks to go before season and I felt a little pop in my wrist. I tried to take another swing and it hurt really bad so I stopped and then I called my trainer who I had last year and I explained what it did and he told me not to swing again until I got [to Spring Training]. Then when I got here, they took me to get an MRI and the MRI showed that I had some torn cartilage there. So now we’re just trying to rehab it and work to get stronger. Once we get there then we’ll start swinging again. I’m hoping to get out on the field soon because I’m dying. I’m dying not being able to play right now. It’s tough.

"It’s a good learning experience. That’s how I take it. I try to take everything positive. It’s learning something new every day. That’s something good for me. For me right now what I’m doing is I’m trying to do all my rehab, and then I’m trying to learn more Spanish. I’ll go and talk to the Spanish teacher. She teaches English to the Spanish guys. I’ll also help some of my teammates out with Rosetta Stone or I’ll just go do it myself. I think [it helps you] get closer to your Latin teammates that you’re not usually able to talk to because of the language barrier. You can take it [the experience] either way. If I was here and I was not trying to get better, I’m sure I’d be miserable. I try to take that as a positive. And I’m learning  more about hitting in talking to Jeff Albert [who] is one of our hitting coordinators this year. He’s been great."

On Spring Training: "When Spring Training  rolled around, I was stretching and I was throwing and I was doing a little defensive work, but I couldn’t  hit at all. So I haven’t hit in probably 8 to 10 weeks. I think that’s the most rough [thing] about it because my nickname is GoGo. All my friends and all my college teammates back home call me that because I’m so used to going. I’m always going and now to be completely stopped and not doing anything kills me."

Gominsky has the arm, speed and defense down, but can he get the hitting?: "Can I get the hitting? Of course I can. I mean even in some of the meetings I’ve had this year, probably the basic thing that they’re telling me is you’ve got the defense part down, you’ve got a great arm. You threw out a lot of guys last year. But we need your hitting to get better. And I think part of it is that I’ve been plagued by injuries in my pro career so far and that’s kind of stunted my growth in hitting. I was a career .300 hitter in college. I haven’t had so many injuries ever in my life. If I can just get healthy and see regular pitching then that’s going to get better with time [and] I’ll get back to where it used to be. It was nice to see that I had some more power numbers at the end of the year last year. I wanted to keep playing when everyone was ready to be done. I was like 'No, I’m starting to heat up. Let’s keep playing.'"

On being a fan favorite: "That’s one of the things I take pride in is the fans. I remember being a fan back in the day when I was a kid. Sometimes there’d be guys who would just blow by you and really not acknowledge you and whatnot. I never wanted to be that guy. I promised myself if I ever played pro ball, I’d always acknowledge the fans. I don’t care how long I have to stay out there. Sometimes last year I’d stay out there for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, just signing autographs. I guess you could say [it can be attributed to] “Minnesota nice” but [it also is because of] some of the values and morals I’ve grown up that my dad and my mom instilled in me. I like to ... build relationships, and that’s one thing I’ve really been able to do at Tri-City and Lexington so it’s been awesome."

On his home state of Minnesota: "Minnesota’s great. It gets cold in the winter time, [but] Minnesota summers you can’t beat. You got the lakes and it gets really nice. It gets around the 80s, mid 80s. The people are great, really really friendly and then you’ve got all the activities you can do in the summer. It’s awesome."

What would he do if he couldn't play baseball?: "I'd coach, or one of the things I’m really interested in is maybe part owning a baseball academy back home, the baseball academy I came up with as a player. That’d be something I’d want to do. I’d want to stay in baseball because I love the game and I love the relationships you make through baseball that are unbelievable. I would never have as many friends as I do if I didn’t play baseball because I’ve met some really good people whether it be in high school ball, college ball or pro ball. It’s really awesome."

What Astros pitcher would he least like to face in the batter's box?: "Either Mike Foltynewicz or Kyle Hallock. I’ll tell you something about Kyle. Kyle does not want to lose. He’s a fierce competitor. He just gets up there and he competes. He might not have all the tools that Foltynewicz has, but he’s just one of those guys that’s just going to beat you. He’s one of my really good friends here."

Which of your teammates makes you laugh?: "I’d say Brandon Meredith and Matt Duffy. [Duffy is] one of the funniest guys I know. He was my roommate here in spring training before he left and I was laughing every night. It was awesome. Brandon’s pretty funny. You know who else is a good laugh is Chan Jong Moon. I’m his roommate right now here at Extended. His personality really doesn’t come out with strangers. I think that’s his culture. If you get [him together] with someone he knows, his personality really really comes out."

Which Astros teammate stands out as a leader?: "I haven’t actually played with him, but I played with him in Spring Training this year … Carlos Correa. For how young he is, the type of player he is, he’s really a good leader by example. And if he has something on his mind, he’ll speak out. He will not hold it in. That’s one thing that really stood out about him is that he’s a pretty good leader especially how old he is."

On sporting the high socks look: "Always! Always! I’m an old-school guy. I will always wear my pants up. As long as I’m playing baseball, I will always wear my pants up."

Which does he prefer playing, center field or right field?: "I like center field so I can track balls, but I like right field because I get more chances to throw guys out. I can use my tools in center field because I can throw, I can run and I can track balls down, but I also love right field because I have probably twice as many chances to throw guys out."

What is something most people don't know about him, and might be surprised to hear?: "I like poetry and I’m pretty sure no one knows that ... anyone on my team I don’t think have ever known that. Not as much reading but writing. I will write poetry just to kind of relax. So that’s something that not a lot of people know about me. Especially in this profession. It’s the last thing you want to tell your teammates. I write poetry."

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I must admit that I really enjoyed talking with Justin on a personal level. We got sidetracked with an animated discussion of the Midwestern roots we share in common. It's hard to have a conversation with him that doesn't become animated because his enthusiasm is infectious. It is my sincere hope that he will soon be able to leave Team Rehab behind and get back in action.

Thank you for your time, Justin, and the best of luck!