Victor Mesa Jr. wasn’t even supposed to be the best Victor Mesa in baseball.
His older brother, Victor Victor Mesa, was supposed to be a star. Victor Mesa Jr. was the afterthought, also signed professionally by the Miami Marlins but not thought as likely to pan out.
It’s Mesa Jr., though, who has broken out this season, finally — just not with the Marlins.
They traded him in the offseason to the Tampa Bay Rays, and a move across Florida has apparently been all it took to lead to a breakout for Mesa.
Victor Mesa Jr. Trade
In early February, the Rays traded for Mesa from the Marlins.
He had signed with Miami all the way back in 2018 as an international free agent from Cuba for $1 million.
He only made it to the majors for the first time in 2025, and he batted just .188 with a .641 OPS in 16 games.
The Rays likely appreciated what Mesa did in Triple-A last season, where he had an .878 OPS with solid outfield defense. Hamstring problems limited Mesa to just 68 games across all levels in 2025, though, so he came with plenty of uncertainty.
In return, the Marlins got infielder Angel Brachi.
Brachi is a 19-year old Venezuelan infielder. He hit just .118 this season in limited action at Single-A, although he did hit .320 in Rookie-ball, so there’s likely still hope for his development.
The full breakout of Mesa, though, is what makes this deal really stand out in retrospect.
Victor Mesa Jr. With Rays
Having turned just 25 years old on Sept. 8, Mesa looks like he could be a star in Tampa Bay for years to come. They have him under club control for five more seasons after this.
He’s batting .261 in 68 MLB games this season with an impressive .848 OPS that includes six doubles, three triples and 13 home runs. Mesa has driven in 30 runs, and he has stolen 9-of-13 steal attempts.
Mesa walks at a decent rate, with 20 walks in his 68 games, while not striking out all that much, just 44 in that span.
He also has an impressive 11 Defensive Runs Saved this season in his 58 games played in right field. Mesa has played by far the fewest innings (493.1) of any player with double-digit DRS this season, with the next closest being Mets catcher Luis Torrens (629) with about 136 more innings than Mesa.
Mesa, somehow, feels exactly like a Rays kind of player. They found him a bit on the cheap and have since proven that he can do just about anything on a ball field.
It’s not that Mesa didn’t have the pedigree to be good. It had just seemed like he might never reach his potential.
The bummer is for the Marlins, who missed out on this rising star. But there the Rays were, to turn another team’s discard pile into some serious treasure.
Rays’ Victor Mesa Jr. Trade Has Aged Terribly for Marlins