An Unexpected 98 mph Pitch Could Lead to a New Career Path for Longtime Minor Leaguer

Infielder Erick Mejia’s baseball resume consists of 17 games split over two seasons with the Kansas City Royals, a .167 MLB batting average and a list of career stops that totals about 30 entries between the minor leagues and foreign ball.

But the 30-year-old Mejia, who also has spent time in the organizations of the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Dodgers since 2012, now is with the Washington Nationals and pursuing a new path to the majors – as a right-handed pitcher.

The Nationals signed Mejia to a free-agent deal in late 2022, and his .227 batting average at Triple-A Rochester in 2023 and .192 the following season didn’t impress the Washington brass enough to earn him even a brief call-up. But one game – a rout – could have laid the foundation for a pitching career.

Andrew Golden of The Washington Post told the story of how Mejia’s appearance in mop-up duty in a loss to Syracuse caught the attention of the organization when he threw 90 mph – and knew he could throw harder.

At 17, Erick Mejia began his career as a shortstop. At 28, he joined the Nats on a minor league deal. Now, at 30, they’re asking him to pitch. And he’s throwing 98.

“I said to him, 'Man, you have a chance to be a prospect for a second time with that kind of arm."

Story below ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/OaaDvar3QK
— Andrew Golden (@andrewcgolden) March 8, 2025

So he gave it a shot. Golden described how Mejia stepped into the bullpen, wearing turf shoes, and topped out at 96 mph. After coaches and team officials talked among themselves, they called Mejia into the office and offered him a chance to transition to pitcher.

“I’ve been hitting my whole career,” Mejia said, per The Post. “So if I need to try something different to keep going, I will do it.”

And he has impressed, according to Golden’s report:

Mejia’s fastball tops out at 98 mph. His four-seamer averaged 20 inches of induced vertical break in his most recent bullpen session, which would put him among the highest in baseball.

Recently, he threw a bullpen session to live batters at the Nationals’ spring training site in West Palm Beach, Fla. In his 25 pitches, no one put a ball in play, Golden wrote.

Nationals coaches know Mejia will be a project but they see the potential – and the chance for advancement

He threw 25 pitches. No one put a ball in play.

There are no guarantees he ever will see the major league mound with the Nationals. But he’s got a second chance at big league glory. And after 969 games and 3,998 plate appearances in the minor leagues over a dozen years, it would be quite something if he made it as a pitcher.

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