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Welcome your new Brewers top prospect!
With the 12th overall pick in the 2014 MLB draft, the Milwaukee Brewers have selected left-handed pitcher Kodi Medeiros, a high schooler out of Hilo, Hawaii.
As with any first-round high schooler, Medeiros kind of destroyed opposing hitters. According to MaxPrep, he has a 1.12 ERA with 81 strikeouts over just 43.2 innings in his latest season. He walked just 15 batters while allowing just a .178 batting average to his competition.
Medeiros pitched for the Brewers in MIller Park during a pre-draft tryout, and the team reportedly liked him quite a bit but did not think he would be available at number 12. Go figure, he was. Though he had been topping out at 95 MPH on his fastball in school, he reached 97 while pitching in front of Brewers' brass. That same fastball also has a ton of movement, creating a tough situation for batters.
Despite people raving about his fastball, it's his slider that has many seeing bright things for Medeiros in the future. It's been ranked the best in the draft, and one of the best breaking balls for available pitchers. Here's what Matt Garrioch of Minor League Ball has to say about it:
His slider is in the main course. It's a 76-78 MPH nasty offering. It's an expletive pitch. The first time I saw it live, I swore. From the angle he delivers it, it can be unhittable. Lefty hitters won't stand a chance hitting the ball that starts behind them and ends up on the outside corner. Right-handers could swing and miss and it could hit them in the chest. It is amazing. It has tight spin, late break and enormous movement both horizontally and vertically, although the bulk of it is horizontal due to his low ¾, almost sidearm delivery.
In addition, Medeiros has a change-up that is seen as having the potential to be plus as well.
His pitching motion is a bit funky, with the weird almost side-arm motion. He's also not the biggest guy, standing at 6'0 and 185 pounds. But he says he has modeled himself after the White Sox' Chris Sale, whom he has been compared to often. Sale, of course, is one of the top pitchers in the MLB right now. His motion has lead some to think he can't make it as a starter but he is supremely athletic and will certainly be given every opportunity to start games.
It's worth noting that Medeiros is a great hitter, too. He has a 1.593 OPS this season for Waiakea High School, and some believed he could have been drafted as a hitter.
Medeiros is committed to Pepperdine University, but it seems that the overwhelming expectation is that he will sign with the Brewers.
