David Michael Mercado, a professional baseball pitcher, was born on April 15, 1999. He currently plays for the Philadelphia Phillies in Major League Baseball.
Mercado attended Westview High School in San Diego and was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the second round of the 2017 MLB draft.
He suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in 2018 and underwent Tommy John surgery. Due to rehabilitation and the COVID-19 pandemic, Mercado didn’t play professionally until the 2021 season.
On November 6, 2023, he was traded to the Phillies and started the 2024 season with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
Michael Mercado sat down for an exclusive interview with Overtime Heroics Senior Editor Reggie Roberts.
Here’s the interview excerpt:
OH: How long has playing Major League Baseball been your dream?
MM: “It’s interesting, baseball wasn’t the first sport I took up as a kid. I played a variety of sports. Initially, like most kids, I dabbled in soccer. Basketball and golf were also big parts of my upbringing.”
“However, my journey with baseball didn’t begin until I turned ten. Even then, it wasn’t until I hit twelve that I started playing competitively.”
“At first, baseball was just another sport I tried out to see if it appealed to me. It wasn’t until I was around fourteen or fifteen that I realized I had a knack for it. At that point, I began to wonder how far I could go and whether I could make it as a professional baseball player.”
“Unlike many others, it wasn’t my childhood dream. It became a tangible goal during my freshman year of high school when I was already a skilled baseball player.”
