Medina twirls seven strong frames

As organizations work to see how prospects develop, one of the many things that pique the curiosity of Minor League coaches and farm directors is how a player handles adversity.
Adonis Medina has showed some resiliency after a rocky start in his first season in the Florida State League.

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Philadelphia's second-ranked prospect allowed an unearned run on three hits and tied a season high with six strikeouts over seven innings in Class A Advanced Clearwater's 5-1 win over Fort Myers on Thursday at Spectrum Field.
"It was really impressive," Threshers pitching coach Aaron Fultz said. "He was able to control the zone with his off-speed, which made his fastball all that much better." 
Medina (5-2) lowered his ERA to 4.97, a mark which had swelled to 6.67 following a two-inning start in which he allowed eight runs against Palm Beach on May 15.
"It's huge," Fultz said. "Because when you get to the big leagues, you're not going to have your best stuff every night and sometimes he's really bounced back and done well. That's kind of what I expect now is just a lot of ground-ball outs, a lot of early outs in the count." 
MLB.com's No. 78 prospect followed that plan closely Thursday. Of his 21 outs, Medina accrued 13 on the ground and six by strikeout. Recently, the right-hander has showcased a changeup and a lethal two-seam fastball which sits around 94 mph -- a combination that can produce such results. 
"With the action he gets on his changeup and the plus-velocity on his fastball, he's capable of doing some really special things," Fultz said. 
Medina's pitching coach hopes he can move forward in refining his off-speed pitches. The Santo Domingo Centro, Dominican Republic native made a major leap in that regard, not relying on his fastball as much and pitching backward to keep hitters off balance, especially with his changeup.
"The more he uses his offspeed, the better his fastball is going to be," Fultz said. "I'm not going to say it's been a directive, but it is something we've been working on -- throwing his breaking pitches to left-handed hitters more to just get more comfortable with it."
Walks have been the Achilles' heel for Medina this season. In the three starts in which Medina has not allowed an earned run, he's only issued one walk. He pounded the strike zone against the Miracle, throwing 59 of his 87 pitches for strikes. 

"Being younger, I think he gets frustrated at times when he's not in the zone as much. He tries to do too much and I think that leads to the walks and it just snowballs," Fultz said. 
Medina didn't allow a run until the seventh when an RBI single by Twins No. 10 prospect Lewin Diaz plated Mitchell Kranson, who moved into scoring position on a passed ball. The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder retired 14 consecutive hitters after a first-inning single by Mark Contreras. 
The Threshers brought Medina the bulk of his run support in the third with Austin Listi driving a two-run hit, Phillies No. 4 prospect Mickey Moniak chipping in an RBI single and Edgar Cabral driving in a run with a sacrifice fly.