Phillies pitching prospect Adonis Medina learning some valuable lessons with double-A Reading

READING -- Reading manager Shawn Williams saw it last year and said he was beginning to see it this season concerning highly touted right-hander Adonis Medina, The Inquirer’s No. 3 Phillies prospect.

A year ago, Williams was the manger at high-A Clearwater, where Medina went 10-4 with a 4.12 ERA. He had 123 strikeouts and 36 walks in 111⅓ innings.

Yet he finished the season with a 1.97 ERA in his final five starts.

What Williams saw at the end of the year was a pitcher able to use his full arsenal.

“Last year, when he had all three pitches working, it was awesome and a lot of fun to watch,” Williams said after Medina allowed two hits and one run in 5⅔ innings in a 2-1 win Saturday over visiting Richmond in the first game of a doubleheader. “He has been doing that his last couple of starts.”

His three pitches are a two-seam fastball with plenty of sink, a slider, and a change-up.

The last three starts have been especially impressive for the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Dominican Republic native.

In 15⅔ innings he has allowed two earned runs, with 12 strikeouts, but also seven walks. He is 3-0 with a 1.15 ERA in those games.

That followed three rough starts in which Medina failed to last five full innings. In those three, he had an 8.32 ERA in 13 innings.

The three most recent starts aren’t enough to say he has turned things around, but Medina, who will turn 23 in December, is showing improvement while pitching in a hitter’s park, First-Energy Stadium.

“As the season goes on, I continue to know the players and everything about the league and I am getting more confidence,” Media said, with coach Nelson Prada serving as translator.

For the season Medina is 3-2 with a 3.92 ERA. He hasn’t been overpowering, with 31 strikeouts in 43⅔ innings.

Williams believes that in the long run, Media will learn from his struggles this season.

“You get to see that side of him where maybe he has only two pitches or maybe has one that he is able to command, but he is battling,” Williams said. “It’s probably not what he is looking for, but he has to compete and that is what he has done.”

Medina said the development of his slider has been the key the last few games.

“I am fooling more players with my breaking pitch,” he said. “In the beginning of the season the breaking pitch wasn’t working too well and I wasn’t fooling anybody.”

Reading reliever Jeff Singer, a graduate of Holy Cross in Delran, said he enjoyed Medina’s competitive spirit.

“He has a live arm and you can see he is coming around with his off-speed stuff and he is somebody who comes out and competes for the team,” Singer said. “He’s a competitor and will give you everything he has.”

Medina, who was signed by the Phillies as an amateur free agent for $70,000 in May 2014, throws in the low to mid 90s. On Saturday he hit 95 mph three times and was consistently throwing 93-94.

Medina understands that he is highly regarded, but he said that doesn’t place any additional burden on him.

“I don’t feel any pressure,” Medina said. “I know I am highly ranked, but I don’t pay attention and I act like I am just another pitcher and stay humble.”

This has been a learning experience for Medina.

“The hitters [in double A] know the strike zone better,” he said. “I got a lot of swing and misses in Clearwater on pitches out of the strike zone, but here they don’t swing as much at bad pitches.”

This is all part of the education of a highly regarded prospect. Medina has a lot of refining left to do, but Williams said his ability to adjust, compete, and improve is a positive sign.

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