The hard-throwing right-hander was with the Mariners in the mid-2010s and unfortunately died from a heart attack in his native Venezuela.
The Seattle Mariners have lost another member of the organizational family, as it was reported on Friday that former right-handed reliever Yoervis Medina died from a heart attack in his native Venezuela. He was just 37 years old, and he's now the second former M's player to die in the last month.
Former top prospect Jesus Montero died from a motorcycle crash, also in Venezuela.
The Mariners made the announcement on social media, with Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times citing Venezuelan reports of the heart attack.
About Medina's career
Medina made his major-league debut with the Mariners in 2013 and stayed with Seattle until being traded to the Chicago Cubs in 2015. Lifetime, he was 10-9 with a 3.08 ERA, striking out 147 batters in 146.0 innings. He made 63 appearances for the 2013 M's, going 4-6 with a stellar 2.91, and then went 5-3 the following year in 66 games. He had an even better 2.68 ERA that year.
About the 2013 Mariners
Medina's time in the organization coincided with some interesting times in franchise history. The 2013 M's went 71-91 and were an interesting cross-section of young prospects and established veterans.
Kyle Seager was just 25 years old, as was Dustin Ackley. Mike Zunino was only 22 and Justin Smoak was 26. We also saw Nick Franklin (22) and Brad Miller (23). On the other hand? The M's gave real at-bats to Brendan Ryan (31), Raul Ibanez (41) and Kendrys Morales (30).
On the pitching side of things, Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma were both excellent, but the rest of the Mariners starting rotation was dreadful, with Joe Saunders (11-16, 5.26), Aaron Harang (5-11, 5.76), Brandon Maurer (5-8, 6.30) and Erasmo Ramirez (5-3, 4.98), all seeing significant starts.
About the 2014 Mariners
These Mariners were much better, going 87-75 under Lloyd McClendon, but they still missed the playoffs. Robinson Cano made his debut in Seattle, hitting .314 with 14 home runs and 82 RBIs, and the pitching staff was much better as the M's looked to make the turn to contention.
Hernandez and Iwakuma were still solid, with Hernandez finishing second for the American League Cy Young Award, but Chirs Young and Roenis Elias also won double-digit games. Fernando Rodney led baseball in saves with 48 and Medina, Tom Wilhelmsen, Danny Farquhar and Charlie Furbush all provided very solid years in the bullpen. Rodney, Wilhelmsen, Farquar, Furbush and Medina each had ERA's under 2.85.
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