Former Oklahoma State Baseball Grad Mederos Makes Rapid Rise to Big Leagues
STILLWATER – In the spring of 2022 Victor Mederos, a native of Santa Clara, Cuba; was throwing pitches for Oklahoma State University inside O’Brate Stadium. Mederos was 4-4 with a 5.59 ERA in his final season for the Pokes. He was solid and dependable but not necessarily spectacular. The best thing in 66 innings pitched was he struck out 62 and walked just 21 batters. Mederos was a sixth-round pick of the Los Angeles Angells last summer.
Mederos, who with his family moved from Cuba as a toddler in 2001, proved to be a fast developer as he pitched for Tri-City as a rookie in the Northwest League and then this season from Rocket City in the Southern League before last week being brought up to the major leagues where he pitched two innings.
Today (July 6) he was sent back down to Class AA Rocket City in the Southern League. He leaves the Angels with a 13.50 after pitching two innings. Mederos stared down some good hitters with the Arizona Diamondbacks and allowed four hits, three runs, with three walks, and two strike outs.
We’re all watching as young Jackson Holliday, the top pick in last summer’s MLB Draft out of Stillwater High School, has soared in the minor leagues for the Baltimore Orioles. Holliday will play in Sunday’s Futures Game and likely will be called up late this season by the Orioles. He is playing that good.
Mederos was 3-4 with a 6.63 ERA when he was called up from Rocket City. The most impressive numbers he had were 71 strike outs versus 25 walks in 55 and two-thirds innings pitched.
"Not exactly. It hasn't really hit me yet,” Mederos told The Tulsa World before he was sent back down. I know the Angels have somewhat of a reputation for calling up prospects fairly quickly. But I mean, at the same time, the thing about being a big leaguer is you have to always be ready. So, when the Angels told me I'd be making my (MLB) debut, I thought little of the quick path. I simply told them I was ready.”
So, did Mederos have that big league moment? Absolutely, up in the majors within a year of being drafted how could you not?
"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't different being out there with Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon as opposed to Roc (Riggio) or Nolan (McLean),” Mederis said to The World, while mentioning some Cowboys that will be drafted in this years MLB Draft. “But at the end of the day, they're all just people. Mike Trout is just as human as Shohei Ohtani, even if it doesn't seem like it in games when (Ohtani) does some of the things he's able to do. They're all people in the end. And if you think of them as anything else or as higher ups, you'll succumb to pressure."
It was a quick trip for Mederos, but I predict he will be back.