RHP Adonis Medina turned in a dominant start for the Clearwater Threshers Saturday. (Baseball Betsy)
There was a point early last week, where the Philadelphia Phillies appeared to be the favorites to acquire Manny Machado from the Baltimore Orioles. Jon Morosi of MLB.com even wrote that the team was willing to include RHP Adonis Medina in a trade, as they attempted to land the four-time All-Star shortstop.
Ultimately, the Los Angeles Dodgers swooped in and acquired Machado for a package headlined by outfielder Yusniel Diaz, who homered twice in last Sunday’s Future’s Game. While the Phillies would have loved for Machado to suit up for them for the first time this weekend, Medina got the ball for the first time since the trade Saturday evening. The 21-year-old turned in a start that likely made the Phillies excited that he remains a part of their organization.
Medina – who Ben Badler of Baseball America says is the Phillies No. 3 overall prospect – allowed just two hits and struck out 12 batters in the Clearwater Threshers 2-1 victory of the Florida Fire Frogs Saturday:
103 seconds of absolute filth from #Phillies RHP prospect Adonis Medina.
FB 93-95 – elevates and runs up and in
SL 80-81 – two plane tilt
CH 88 – plus arm action – FIRM
????
Worked mainly SL/CH combo 3rd time through the order
UN-?ing Touchable! pic.twitter.com/Dg5PvqTWXL— Jason Woodell (@JasonAtTheGame) July 22, 2018
Even after the start, Medina’s ERA still sits at 4.48, which without doing a deep dive doesn’t sound especially good for a top prospect who is pitching in Single-A. However, Medina has allowed 39 earned runs in 16 starts this year, with 26 of those runs coming in four starts. That means he’s allowed just 13 earned runs in his other 12 starts. Of course, outliers still count, but it does give you an idea of how dominant Medina has been aside from those four outliers.
The Dominican Republic native was projected by MLB Pipeline at the outset of the season to reach the majors in 2019. Given the promise of Sixto Sanchez, JoJo Romero, Ranger Suarez and Franklyn Kilome, the Phillies have a chance to have one of the sport’s deepest rotations in the coming seasons. When you consider that the Phillies already have gotten impressive starts at the major league level from Aaron Nola, Zach Eflin, Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez and Enyel De Los Santos this season, it stands to reason that the team may end up with a surplus of young starters. So the Machado sweepstakes may not have been the last time that we’ll hear Medina’s name mentioned in trade rumors.
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