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…