The Rockaway Wave
Originally Published July 24, 2026
Daiverson Gutierrez has been a different hitter recently.
Yes, his offensive production has done a complete 180, but he’s literally been a different hitter in the box. The change is very easy to see: His stance is much more open. After beginning the season with both feet just about in line, Gutierrez has moved his front foot—which is his left foot as a right-handed hitter—much further away from the plate. The change is intentional.
“I was trying to be the best version I was playing,” Gutierrez said through teammate, fellow catcher, fellow Venezuelan and friend Ronald Hernandez, who was acting as an interpreter. “That was in 2024. That was my best version. I was trying to get to the same place.”
Gutierrez broke out as a prospect in 2024. He started the season in the Dominican Summer League, but moved stateside mid-year and made it as high as Single-A. In 37 games across the three levels, he hit .259/.396/.435/.831. Gutierrez struck out just 13.4% of the time in 2024 and still managed to walk at an 11.9% clip. He hit for a decent bit of power, but most impressive was his ability to make consistent contact and reach the level he did at just 18 years old.
That season, his stance was more open, as it is now.
His 2025 season wasn’t as smooth. Gutierrez spent the entire year at Single-A and hit just .242/.362/.309/.671 in 91 games. He had 14 total extra-base hits, one fewer than he had the year before in just about 41% of the games. His stance was still a little open, but it also became more closed as the season went on.
“We changed a little bit because the metrics, the numbers, got down a little bit for some pitches,” Gutierrez said. “[We] were working on trying to be more simple and simplified, but I didn’t find it.”
Gutierrez then moved to High-A Brooklyn to start 2026, and things only got worse. In April and May, Gutierrez hit .148/.278/.221/.500.
“I feel down in those moments, but fortunately, my family, the team, the coaches, teammates, they help me to leave that place and just keep going,” he said.
So, Gutierrez and the Mets switched back to what works for him. “Trying to be myself,” Gutierrez said.
Cyclones hitting coach Devin DeYoung said the decision to open Gutierrez back up was made about two months ago. That’s just about when his numbers started to tick up.
“A lot of times, we try to go back to when a guy had his best stretch, or had his best year, best week, best month, and really just trying to match that,” DeYoung said. “Everybody’s a different mover, so, we just felt like his setup, he was just getting too closed off. We reworked his routine, changed a few things, changed his setup, and slowly but surely, he’s been getting back to what we saw in 2024.”
In June, his slash line jumped up to .269/.337/.449/.786. In his first 12 games in July, it’s .308/.370/.436/.805. His strikeout rate, which was 18.5% in the first two months of the season, is down to 13.3% since the start of June.
“Those months taught me a lot of stuff,” Gutierrez said. “I never gave up, and I’m happy because the results finally started coming.”
The 20-year-old has also impressed his coaches with the job he’s done behind the plate, not just at it. He’s a solid framer, can throw out runners and does a good job as a gamecaller. Gutierrez, as well as the other Cyclones catchers, call their own pitches. In an era where gamecalling is being taken away from catchers as high as the MLB level, that’s notable.
“He learned a lot from last year,” Cyclones pitching coach Luis Alvarado said. “We always have really good conversations whenever we do video reviews with the pitchers. He’s always there; he’s able to understand what I’m asking as a coach, what the pitcher is asking us. … He’s done a phenomenal job controlling the game, whether that is runners, being able to be a coach whenever he does a mound visit, I think he’s done a mound visit—I think he’s taken a huge step with that —and calling the game, he’s done a special job.”
Gutierrez’s current all-around form has also allowed him to enjoy two walk-offs, the first on June 23 and the second on July 11. He’s had a bit of a flair for the dramatic.
“I’m trying to be simple, and believe I’m the guy in a movie,” Gutierrez said. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Jorge Eckardt Portfolio 