MJ Melendez

MJ Melendez

24-Year-Old CatcherC
Kansas City Royals
2023 Fantasy Outlook
Melendez gets a passing grade, offensively. As a 23-year-old rookie, he popped 18 home runs and drew 66 walks in 534 plate appearances, putting him roughly league average by wRC+. It's defensively where the questions come up. Melendez struggled behind the plate both defensively (-18 DRS) and with pitch framing. Salvador Perez is still locked in as the near-everyday catcher when healthy, so Melendez will likely see most of his time in the outfield to begin 2023. He's not a finished product with the bat, but the 2021 minor-league home run leader clears the bar in two-catcher leagues. The defensive questions leave open some playing-time downside, but the rebuilding Royals would be wise to live with his limitations and hand Melendez 500-plus PA again to evaluate his progress against big-league pitching. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
#99
ADP
$Signed a $2.1 million contract with the Royals in June of 2017.
Will get most outfield reps in RF
CKansas City Royals
March 27, 2023
Royals manager Matt Quatraro told reporters before Monday's spring game that Melendez will see the majority of his outfield reps in right field to begin the year, Anne Rogers of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
It was assumed by many that Melendez would see most of his outfield time in left, but instead the promising young hitter will be on the other side of the outfield for the majority of his time. Melednez is also expected to see time at designated hitter while also getting some time behind the plate. No matter the position, his power and likelihood to see plenty of time at the top of the order makes him an intriguing option for the 2023 campaign.
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Batting Stats
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2022
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
54
3
8
18
6
6
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
10
1
11
2
5
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2020
 
 
+26%
OPS vs LHP
2022
 
 
+26%
OPS vs LHP
2021
No Stats
2020
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2020vs Left .839 126 17 4 14 1 .295 .357 .482
Since 2020vs Right .664 408 40 14 48 1 .193 .299 .365
2022vs Left .839 126 17 4 14 1 .295 .357 .482
2022vs Right .664 408 40 14 48 1 .193 .299 .365
2021vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2021vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2020
 
 
+6%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+6%
OPS at Home
2021
No Stats
2020
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2020Home .727 270 29 11 41 0 .229 .304 .424
Since 2020Away .684 264 28 7 21 2 .205 .322 .362
2022Home .727 270 29 11 41 0 .229 .304 .424
2022Away .684 264 28 7 21 2 .205 .322 .362
2021Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2021Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2020Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does MJ Melendez compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.50
 
BB Rate
12.4%
 
K Rate
24.5%
 
BABIP
.258
 
ISO
.176
 
AVG
.217
 
OBP
.313
 
SLG
.393
 
OPS
.706
 
wOBA
.312
 
Exit Velocity
90.7 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
35.4%
 
Barrels/PA
6.6%
 
Expected BA
.237
 
Expected SLG
.410
 
Sprint Speed
23.5 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
39.0%
 
Line Drive %
20.2%
 
Fly Ball %
40.8%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring MJ Melendez See More
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3 days ago
The RotoWire Roundtable crew is back with their final update of the spring, with injuries shaking things up as early as the back half of the first round.
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12 days ago
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24 days ago
Erik Halterman breaks down the competition for AL jobs, including in Minnesota where Nick Gordon likely will spend time at several spots around the diamond this season.
RotoWire Roundtable: Updated Top-300 Fantasy Baseball Rankings
31 days ago
The RotoWire Roundtable crew shares their updated rankings, with changes as early as the second pick of the draft.
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2022
2019
Melendez bounced back from a horrific showing at High-A in 2019 (39.4 K%) to lead the minors with 41 home runs while hitting .288/.386/.625 in 123 games at Double-A and Triple-A. He had a great 39.2 Hard% along with a 14.1 BB% and a 21.7 K%. Melendez always had plus raw power, but he overhauled his swing and stance, which was the cause of his surprise resurgence. With Salvador Perez locked in as the Royals' primary catcher, Melendez is expected to get work at third base and the corner outfield spots at Triple-A, where his 70-grade arm could still add value. Kansas City has a lot of hitters vying for playing time at those positions and designated hitter this upcoming season, so it's unclear when he will be given a look as an everyday player in the majors. His power should translate whenever he gets his shot, and he should eventually make enough contact to hit for a passable batting average. The key to his long-term fantasy value will be for him to get enough starts at catcher to retain that eligibility, which could lead to him being one of the leaders in plate appearances for catcher-eligible players, assuming he is playing other positions when he is not catching.
One of the most athletic high-end catching prospects in recent memory, Melendez has plus power and should be able to stick behind the plate. He sells out for home runs at times (30.3 K%), but was still 28 percent better than the average Sally League hitter as a 19-year-old. His .241 ISO and 19 home runs ranked fourth and fifth in the league, respectively. Not only is that level of production rare for teenage catchers at Low-A, but catchers that age are very rarely even assigned to a full-season league. While he hit more balls to the opposite field (28.2%) than he did in the AZL in 2017 (22.2%), it still seems unlikely that Melendez will ever hit much better than .250 as he climbs the ladder, though that hardly excludes him from being a top fantasy catcher. He has plenty of time to improve as a receiver, and his plus arm, athleticism and ability to speak fluent English and Spanish are big marks in his favor. Look for him to debut in 2021 or 2022.
More Fantasy News
Hitting well so far
CKansas City Royals
March 10, 2023
Melendez has gone 6-for-16 (.375) with three extra-base hits, six RBI, six runs scored, a stolen base and a 2:3 BB:K through six Cactus League games.
ANALYSIS
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Posts three hits
CKansas City Royals
October 2, 2022
Melendez went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI in Sunday's 7-5 loss to the Guardians.
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Tallies 18th homer
CKansas City Royals
September 28, 2022
Melendez went 1-for-3 with two walks and a solo home run Wednesday against the Tigers.
ANALYSIS
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Deep blast in win
CKansas City Royals
September 22, 2022
Melendez went 1-for-4 with a solo home run in Wednesday's 5-2 win over Minnesota.
ANALYSIS
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Crushes homer in win
CKansas City Royals
September 20, 2022
Melendez went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run and a double in Tuesday's 5-4 win over the Twins.
ANALYSIS
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