Player Profile: Victor Mederos

Photo: PerfectGame

School: Monsignor Pace

Hometown: Santa Clarita, Villa Clara, Cuba/Miami, FL

Personal Relationships: Outside of his mom, Odalys, everyone in Victor’s family is named Victor. His father is named Victor and his old brother is named Victor “Vitin” Damian. When Mederos was two months old, his father fled Cuba, but never stopped financially supporting his family. Vitin played the father figure at home. He taught him baseball and still catches his brother’s bullpens, saying how proud he is of him. The younger Victor calls his older brother his best friend. 

About 6 years after Victor Sr. left Cuba for Miami, Odalys and her sons got a visa to Costa Rica. His mother gave up her career as a lawyer in Cuba to make the trip for her family.  From there, Vitin (16) and Mederos (6) trekked across the borders of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico until reaching Texas as seekers of asylum. Their father, by this time, had become a U.S. citizen and paid guides to escort his family through the tough terrain and eventually to a plane (with wings held together by wires) headed to Miami. 

Mederos knows how much his family sacrificed for him to be successful, saying “I find the good in everything. Anytime I have a bad game, I know I can’t quit. I’m doing this for my family. They’re the ones who got me here.”

Key Quote: His high school coach, Tom Duffin says Mederos is “unafraid to show his emotions and backs it up.” He’s the type of player “you love to have on your team and you hate to play against.”

Social Media: Postings are composed of videos/pictures of his baseball clips, love for his girlfriend, admiration for his idol (deceased former Marlins pitcher, Jose Fernandez), and retweets of humorous videos.

Off-the-Field: Mederos, a math afficionado, is interested in business and finance as potential college majors at the University Miami.

Twitter: @victorm5252

Instagram: @victor_mederos