The Mariners have signed right-hander Adonis Medina to a minor league deal, as reported by Matt Eddy of Baseball America. The deal presumably comes with an invite to big league Spring Training next year.
Medina, 28 next month, first signed with the Phillies out of the Dominican Republic and made his pro debut back in 2014. A starting pitching prospect at the time, Medina spent the early years of his career climbing the minor league ranks and was a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport after a strong showing at Single-A in 2017. The right-hander struggled a bit over the next two years, however, and his prospect star lost some of its shine as he struck out just 17.5% of opponents while allowing a 4.94 ERA at the Double-A level back in 2019.
Those struggles didn’t stop the Phillies from calling up Medina for his big league debut during the abbreviated 2020 season, however. In a spot start against the Blue Jays on September 20, Medina got his first cup of coffee in the big leagues. He performed solidly enough, surrendering two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out four in four innings of work, but was quickly optioned off the club’s roster. He remained with the Phillies for the 2021 season and performed well in the majors in a small sample while shuttling between the big leagues and Triple-A. Despite his 3.52 ERA in four appearances at the big league level, however, Medina struggled badly in the minors with a 5.05 ERA and a lackluster 18.4% strikeout rate at Triple-A.
Medina’s lackluster performance in the minors led the Phillies to place Medina on waivers, where he was promptly claimed by the Pirates only to be traded to the Mets the following month. The right-hander converted to relief full time in his new organization, and his results at the Triple-A level improved slightly (4.65 ERA in in 31 innings) after the role change. That step forward did not translate to the major leagues, however, as Medina was shelled to the tune of a 6.08 ERA in 23 2/3 innings of work across 14 appearances in Queens that year. While some peripheral numbers, such as his 3.89 SIERA, were more bullish on his performance, that wasn’t enough to keep Medina on the roster as the Mets designated him for assignment that September.
That led the right-hander to depart stateside ball for South Korea, where he signed with the KBO’s KIA Tigers. His new club tried to convert him back to starting, but that experiment did not go well as he struggled to a 6.05 ERA in 58 innings of work across 12 starts. Unlike his time in Queens, Medina’s struggles on the field were now reflected in his peripheral numbers as he struck out just 13.4% of batters faced while walking opponents at a 10.8% clip. Medina’s rough performance led to him being released that July, and he didn’t catch on with another club until he signed with the Nationals on a minor league deal in February of this year.
While Medina’s time with D.C. didn’t ultimately result in a return to the big leagues, he did show off the best results at Triple-A of his career after converting back to full-time relief with the Nationals. In 49 relief appearances, Medina posted a 3.76 ERA in 64 2/3 innings of work for the club’s affiliate in Rochester. He struck out a respectable 21.9% of opponents faced while walking 9.5%, the best ratio he’s flashed since his days as a top prospect in the late 2010’s. Now, Medina has latched on with a Mariners club that figures to give him the opportunity to earn a spot in the club’s bullpen out of Spring Training or act as non-roster depth in the minors should he ultimately not make the Opening Day roster.
I’m good with this minor league signing. Nothing big but the numbers are there for a potential Mariners magic relief pitcher breakout.
Yes
Dipoto
Adonis: He’s funky, and he’s cold …. but he will be bringing the heat!
JT replacement this is what the mariners do well. They know pitching. They can’t hit a mountain with a missile but they know pitching.
I’m starting to believe more and more that the T-Mobile park creates good pitching, and there’s nothing really all that great about the M’s pitching analysis/strategy. It’s been happening for too long with different GMs. Unless you believe Jack Zduriencik was also a genius at picking pitchers out of nowhere. Guys like:
JJ Putz
David Aardsma
Sean White (64 IP of 2.80 ERA in ’09)
David Pauley (54 IP of 2.15 ERA in ’11)
Yoervis Medina (68 IP of 2.91 ERA in ’13)
Danny Farquhar (71 IP of 2.66 ERA in ’14)
Tom Whilhelmsen ( 79 IP of 2.27 ERA in ’14)
Carson Smith (70 IP of 2.31 ERA in ’15)
In fact, the 2014 starting rotation was just as good as the ’24 rotation that everyone in Seattle won’t shut up about.
2014: (Hernandez, Iwakuma, Young, Elias, Ramirez, Paxton)
12.1 WAR, 59-46, 3.35 ERA, 893 IP, 1.15 WHIP, 3.78 ERA+
2024: (Castillo, Kirby, Gilbert, Miller, Woo, Hancock)
12.3 WAR, 55-46, 3.28 ERA, 875 IP, 1.00 WHIP, 3.51 ERA+
The 2014 team won 87 games. The 2024 team won 85 games. Both teams couldn’t hit.
It’s not the pitching evaluation guys… it’s the stadium. Lean into that. Mediocre pitchers will be okay, mediocre hitters will not.
Great point on that 2014 Rotation. I surfed the web to look up their stats earlier this year while I was caught in the wave of “best SEA rotation ever” conversation that swept our shores! I remember being pleasantly surprised at that 2014 Staff’s final numbers.
We all know Felix had a great year, most could tell you Iwakuma also had a good 2014 but how many M’s fans could recall the final stats from Roenas Elias and Chris Young? I didn’t recall either of them giving us that many innings (both 160+ ip ea.) I certainly didn’t remember Chris Young finishing the year with an ERA (3.65) so close to Kuma’s ERA (3.52)
I knew Paxton and Taijuan Walker made an impact albeit in SSS’s but I was also surprised at their final numbers considering their age and inexperience. Im quite sure many Seattle fans will be surprised to see how close that 2014 Rotation came to eclipsing the Final stats by this year’s Staff.
Re: the impact on Pitchers at T-Mobile. I’d suggest the Regions weather and the Parks proximity to an open body of (cold) water plays a larger part in a Pitcher’s success (Hitters demise) than the actual dimensions of the Park.
The 2001 rotation went 86-30 with a 3.54 ERA in 1012 IP! Unbelievable.
Garcia, Sele, Moyer, Abbott, Halama, Piniero
Been saying that for years. Mariner pitching = Colorado hitting.
like to see the number when the fences came in too
If that is the case, which I believe it is then ship out a starter no, ship one at the deadline while paying for a medicare starter now in FA, get one back in trade or make the call in Peoria.
I haven’t looked myself but have read multiple post here and at others that the home/road splits tell the story with the rotation.
If the FO wont pay for a bat, not talking the Jerry special bat either, then they have to ship out from the rotation to get a bat that they wont pay for and desperately need.
Still doesn’t make sense though cause they still have to pay the contract of an incoming traded player with you know, MONEY not peanuts.
So whats the difference if they pay in FA or pay with a trade?
They’d rather pay with the major league roster/prospects and still pay the player then just straight up cash in FA?
Make it make sense other than “cheap ownership”
We don’t pay with peanuts even though the hot ones are good. We pay with garlic fries and crickets. We can fix up any of the new players with a fresh batch of toasted crickets. They sound grosser than they are. My only complaint was a leg getting caught in my teeth and not enough of the hot seasoning on them.
Well you do realize we play 50% of our games in other stadiums. The park and weather play a part but not as big as you say IMHO. We have had a good to great staff a few times. The thing about this group is age. All are young except Castillo. Hopefully this ownership opens the bank and pays them all when it is time. There will be a lot of players needing money within 3-4 years.