Kodi Medeiros

[Michael Trzinski]

Kodi Medeiros barely pitched during his junior season at Waiakea High School in Hawaii. But as a nod to his overall athleticism, he was named to the All-State first team as an outfielder, slashing .492/.529/.825 with four homers and 36 RBIs.

Medeiros made his way back to the mound his senior year (2014) and played in at least three national showcase tournaments. He was named the Gatorade Hawaii Baseball Player of the Year on the strength of his 7-1 record, 0.97 ERA, and 83 strikeouts in 43.1 innings pitched. Although Medeiros had signed a letter of intent with Pepperdine, he elected to sign with the Brewers as their 12th overall pick in the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft, collecting a signing bonus of $2.5 million along the way.

Kodi Mitsugi-Kaiana Medeiros began his pro career with the Brewers club in the Arizona Rookie League but struggled with a WHIP of 2.094 and an ERA of 7.13 across 17.2 innings. Despite his rough start, Medeiros earned a promotion to Single-A Wisconsin in the Midwest League to start the 2015 season. He was also listed as the number eight prospect on MLB.com’s Top 30 Prospect listing.

Only 19, Medeiros had a solid campaign for the T-Rats, with a WHIP of 1.275 and strikeout rate of 23.5%. His walk rate was a little high at 10% but all in all, it was a nice first complete season.

Moving up the ladder one step at a time, Medeiros advanced to High-A Brevard County in the Florida State League in 2016. Medeiros scuffled at that level with perhaps the worst year of his career. His ERA of 5.93 and BB/K ratio of 63/64 were less than stellar. The following season, the Brewers moved the High-A club to Zebulon, North Carolina in the Carolina League and Medeiros moved with them.

The 2017 season was much better for Medeiros as his BB/K ratio was 53/121 but he was perhaps ‘effectively wild’ as he led the league with 20 hit batsmen. Medeiros began the 2018 campaign at Double-A Biloxi in the Southern League, but in late July before the trading deadline, he and pitcher Wilber Perez were traded to the Chicago White Sox for closer Joakim Soria. Medeiros was headed for one of his finest seasons when he was traded with an ERA of 3.14 and a BB/K ratio of 45/107. Things didn’t go so well at Birmingham in the same league, as Medeiros went 0-2 with an ERA of 4.98 in seven starts.

The 6-foot-1 left-hander began 2019 on the injured list but pitched mostly in relief with 28 appearances (nine starts) with an ERA of 5.10. Medeiros did not play in the Covid year of 2020, but was bumped up to Charlotte of the Triple-A East for 2021.  In 30 games, he went 0-1 with an ERA of 5.52. After the season, Medeiros became a free agent and signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Angels a few months later. He pitched in 10 games with Triple-A Salt Lake in the Pacific Coast League in 2022, but the parent club released him in June. Medeiros announced his retirement the following March.

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