Rank History
| Year | Team | Position | Team Rank | OFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | CLE | RHP | 35 | 40 |
Grades Update: Nov 2020
| OFP | Role | FB | SL | CH | Ctr/Cmd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 40 | 50 | 50 | 45 | 60/55 |
Nov 2020 Report
Evaluator: Justin Lada
Age: 24 yr
Height: 6-4
Weight: 240 lbs
Hits/Throws: R/R
Acquired: 2013 IFA
RuleV: On 40-man
Physical Description: Tall, physical build. The body type you'd like from a potential starting pitcher. Long limbs and strong throughout. Solid frame and physically filled out.
Delivery & Mechanics: Mejia works from the first base side of the rubber with fluid, athletic delivery that he repeats well. He uses a leg kick and creates some hip rotation going into that leg kick. He's got long limbs and does a good job getting positive extension with his plant leg. He gets his hips and shoulders square to the plate well in front his release through a three-quarter arm slot. The arm slot is so far away from his body that it looks like he would have a cross-body type delivery, but he does a good job getting plenty of extension that his arm slot and release point are out far in front, which helps him with command and perceived velocity.
Fastball: Runs 91-93 and tops out at 95. Has some natural armside sink to it and Mejia is adept at locating it to his arm side, back dooring the pitch to left handers and running it in on right handers. Locates it at an above average rate. Despite just having average-velocity and below-average spin (2100), the movement, command and extension on his delivery and release point allow the pitch to play up slightly above its velocity and spin. Grade: 50
Slider: 82-84 with tight, two plane break with 2-7 shape. Shows good feel for spin (2400 RPM) and the arm slot helps him get good sweep on the slider to miss bats. Hitters easily swing over top of the pitch and it tunnels well with his arm slot and extension on the release point. Grade: 50
Changeup: Low-usage third offering. 79-81. Promising fade, but not a lot of arm side run. Good separation from his fastball. Locates it with fringe-average command. Needs to catch up with fastball and slider to give him a third offering to stay as a starter, but right now it's a competitive enough pitch to offer to left-handers and gets some swings and misses. Grade: 45
Control and Command: Mejia throws his fastball and slider for strikes consistently and hits spots all over the zone. He fills up the zone with quality strikes with both offerings and avoids walks. His changeup command is a little behind the other two, but shows promise. Mejia has a fluid delivery that he repeats well and gets him into position to throw consistent strikes. His ability to miss bats helps out with behind ahead in counts and avoid walks. Control: 60 | Command: 55
Overall: Mejia has had abdominal issues that have required surgery, so he missed time in 2018 and a lot of the season in 2019 as well. He was put on the 40 man roster in 2019 to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Durability at the moment looks to be an issue holding him back from moving up as fast as someone with his command and two average offerings should. He's 24 and has yet to reach Double-A. Though his changeup is fringe-average now, it could be enough to profile at the back end of the rotation thanks to his command and the arm slot/extension on his release that helps his pitches play up. He could fill a relief role with the fastball and slider, which seems to be the more likely outcome at this point because of the time he's missed with injuries and he has one minor league option remaining. Health and moving to the bullpen could get him back on a quicker path back to the majors like he was thought to be on after being added to the 40 man roster before passing A+ in 2018.
OFP: 40
Role: 40 - Spot Starter/ Low Leverage Reliever
Risk: High
