Yohander Manuel Méndez Ortega (born January 17, 1995) is a Venezuelan professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

for the

Uni-President Lions The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, stylized as Uni-President 7-ᴇʟᴇᴠᴇn Lions, also known as Uni-Lions (), are a professional baseball team playing in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL). The Lions are based in Tainan City, Ta ...

of the

Chinese Professional Baseball League The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL; ) is the top-tier professional baseball league in Taiwan. The league was established in 1989 and played the first season in 1990. CPBL eventually absorbed the competing Taiwan Major League in 20 ...

(CPBL). He has previously played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the Texas Rangers, and in

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB) for the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...

. He made his MLB debut in 2016.

Professional career

Texas Rangers

Méndez signed with the Texas Rangers as an international free agent on June 1, 2012 out of Venezuela for $1.5 million. Méndez made his professional debut in 2012 with the Dominican Summer League Rangers, posting a 2–1 record with a 1.99 ERA in innings. In 2013 he made his stateside debut with the Low–A

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Co ...

, posting a 1–2 record with a 3.78 ERA in innings. Méndez split the 2014 season between the rookie–level

Arizona League Rangers The Arizona Complex League Rangers are a Rookie-level affiliate of the Texas Rangers, competing in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball. The team plays its home games at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Arizona. The team is composed m ...

and Single–A

Hickory Crawdads The Hickory Crawdads are a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. They are located in Hickory, North Carolina, and play their home games at L. P. Frans St ...

, posting a combined 3–1 record with a 2.70 ERA in innings. Méndez spent the entire 2015 season with the

, posting a 3–3 with a 2.44 ERA in innings. On November 20, 2015, the Rangers added him to their

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. Méndez split the 2016 minor league season between the High–A

High Desert Mavericks The High Desert Mavericks were an American Minor League Baseball team in Adelanto, California, that played their home games at Heritage Field at Stater Bros. Stadium. They played in the Class A-Advanced California League. The franchise had eight d ...

, Double–A

Frisco RoughRiders The Frisco RoughRiders (often shortened to 'Riders) are a Minor League Baseball team of the Texas League and the Double-A (baseball), Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. Based in Frisco, Texas, the team is named aft ...

, and Triple–A

Round Rock Express The Round Rock Express are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Rangers. They are located in Round Rock, Texas, and play their home ...

. He posted a combined 12–3 record with a 2.19 ERA in 111 innings. After the trade deadline of the 2016 season, Mendez became the team's no. 2 prospect after the Rangers dealt Luis Ortiz and Lewis Brinson to the Brewers for catcher

Jonathan Lucroy Jonathan Charles Lucroy (born June 13, 1986) is an American former professional baseball catcher. Between 2010 and 2021, he spent 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) playing for the Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Range ...

. Méndez was promoted to the Major Leagues during September call-ups on September 2, 2016 after having an ERA of 2.19 as a starter in the minors. He made his Major League debut on September 5, coming out of the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if ...

and allowing five earned runs while pitching one inning against the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

. Méndez appeared in just two games that September, tossing 3 innings with a 18.00 ERA. Mendez split the 2017 season between Double–A Frisco and the Rangers. In 24 starts with Frisco, he posted a 7–8 with a 3.79 ERA and 124 strikeouts across innings. In 7 relief outings for the Rangers, he posted a 0–1 record with a 5.11 ERA and 7 strikeouts over innings. Méndez opened the 2018 season with Triple–A Round Rock. He was on the Rangers active roster when on June 19, he was optioned back to Triple–A for violating an unspecified team rule after a game in Kansas City the night prior. Mendez was demoted down to the High–A

Down East Wood Ducks The Down East Wood Ducks were a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They were located in Kinston, North Carolina, and are named for the wood duck, a colorful local waterfowl. Establi ...

on June 25, for what the organization called a "reset" on his development. Méndez worked his way back up through Double–A and Triple–A, before being recalled to the major league roster on September 2. Méndez posted a combined 2–10 record with a 4.71 ERA in innings between Down East, Frisco, and Round Rock. In 8 games (5 starts) with the Rangers in 2018, Méndez posted a 2–2 record with a 5.53 ERA in innings. During the 2018 offseason the Rangers announced that they were given a 4th minor league option on Méndez that would allow them to option him to the minor leagues during the 2019 season. On March 19, 2019, the team announced that Méndez would not need season–ending surgery, instead he would be available by midseason. Méndez was placed on the 60-day

injured list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

to open the 2019 season. He returned to Texas on September 5, and finished the season going 1–0 with a 5.79 ERA over innings. On July 23, 2020, Méndez was removed from the 40–man roster and sent outright to Round Rock. He did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Méndez became a free agent on November 2.

Sultanes de Monterrey

On February 24, 2021, Méndez signed with the

Leones de Yucatán The Leones de Yucatán (English: Yucatán Lions) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League. The team plays its home games at Parque Kukulcán Alamo in Mérida, Yucatán. The Leones have won the Mexican League title five times in 1957 ...

of the

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

. He did not appear for Yucatán during the 2021 season. On December 6, 2021, Méndez signed with the

Milwaukee Milkmen The Milwaukee Milkmen are an independent baseball team based in Franklin, Wisconsin. They are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball. They began play in 2019 and play ho ...

of the

American Association of Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor ...

. However, on February 15, 2022, prior to the 2022 AA season, his contract was purchased by the

Sultanes de Monterrey The Sultanes de Monterrey (English: Monterrey Sultans) are a professional baseball club in the Mexican League (LMB) based in Monterrey, Mexico. Established in 1939 as Carta Blanca, the Sultanes have won ten LMB titles, most recently in 2018. Fro ...

of the

Yomiuri Giants

On December 13, 2022, Méndez signed with the

. He made 16 appearances for Yomiuri in 2023, he compiled a 5–5 record and 2.07 ERA with 72 strikeouts over 87 innings pitched. Méndez re-signed with the Giants on a one-year contract for the 2024 season on November 26, 2023. Méndez only appeared in 2 games for Yomiuri in 2024, going 0–2 and striking out 4 batters over innings pitched. On October 6, 2024, it was announced that the Giants would not retain Méndez for the 2025 season, making him a free agent.

Uni-President Lions

On December 27, 2024, Méndez signed a one-year, $560,000 contract with the

of the

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez, Yohander 1995 births Living people Arizona League Rangers players Dominican Summer League Rangers players Frisco RoughRiders players Hickory Crawdads players High Desert Mavericks players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Venezuela 21st-century Venezuelan sportsmen Mexican League baseball pitchers Nashville Sounds players Navegantes del Magallanes players Round Rock Express players Spokane Indians players Baseball players from Valencia, Venezuela Sultanes de Monterrey players Texas Rangers players Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions players Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in Mexico Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in Taiwan Venezuelan expatriate baseball players in the United States

Professional career

Texas Rangers

Sultanes de Monterrey

Yomiuri Giants

Uni-President Lions

See also

References

External links