A 2-run single for a pitcher -- against a catcher!

ATLANTA -- Braves manager Walt Weiss’ decision to get his All-Star position players off their feet gave Victor Mederos a chance to become the first MLB pitcher (excluding Shohei Ohtani and position players batting after pitching) to get a hit as a pitcher since the universal designated hitter rule was put in place before the 2022 season.

When Weiss removed All-Star first baseman Matt Olson in the eighth inning of a 15-1 win over the Rangers on Friday night, he replaced him with designated hitter Dominic Smith at first base. So, the Braves lost their DH, meaning the pitcher now had to hit. This set the stage for Mederos to enjoy the finest moment of his career.

“At first, [Weiss and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner] were like, 'We don’t want you to swing,'” Mederos said. “I was like, 'Please let me get one swing. This is probably the only opportunity I’ll get to do this.'”

Once the opportunity arrived, Mederos delivered against Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka, who had previously pitched one inning on both July 8 and June 16. The 25-year-old relief pitcher laced a 42 mph eephus pitch past third baseman Josh Jung and into left field for a two-run single.

“I said, 'I’ll let you swing if if you promise me you don't go crazy up there,'” Weiss said. “I think he hit the ball 104 [mph]. So, I think he probably swung pretty hard. He was pretty excited.”

Fortunately, Mederos took the aggressive swing and didn’t strain his ribcage or oblique muscle, as Weiss had feared he might. This marked the first time the pitcher had swung a bat since he hit a ball in the upper deck while taking batting practice with his Triple-A teammates in Salt Lake City last year.

Most of those BP pitches probably had a higher velocity than the collection of eephus pitches Higashioka offered.

“He was ready to go six people before his spot was up,” Braves catcher Drake Baldwin said. “We were all fired up when he got the chance to hit. We knew he was gonna make the most of it, like he did. So that was awesome to see doing that.”

The Braves actually had a batting helmet ready for Mederos, who allowed one run over two innings. As for the bat and batting gloves, he used the ones Olson loaned him, which he told him to hang onto as keepsakes.

“Matt was nice enough to give me the bat and the batting gloves,” Mederos said. “It was sick.”

Mederos became the second player this year with a hit off a position player while batting as a pitcher, joining Rockies catcher Brett Sullivan, who had position-player pitched the prior frame on May 26.

The last pitcher (excluding Ohtani and position players batting after pitching) to record a hit in a game as a pitcher was on the final day of the 2021 season, when Logan Webb homered in a two-hit game and Daniel Bard recorded a hit. Garrett Cleavinger was the last pitcher to record a hit against a position-player pitching on July 10, 2021.

Mederos joins Ryne Nelson as the only career pitchers with a hit since the start of the 2022 season. On March 30, 2025, Nelson pinch-hit for fellow hurler Justin Martinez in a game where Arizona lost the DH, recording an eighth-inning RBI single.

Mederos became the first Braves pitcher to record a hit in a game since Max Fried on Sept. 12, 2021. But the most recent Braves player to record a hit in a game he pitched was actually Nicky Lopez, who was Texas’ second baseman on Friday. Lopez had four hits and pitched a scoreless inning in a 21-3 win over the Mets on Aug. 12, 2023.