MJ Melendez

MJ Melendez

25-Year-Old OutfielderOF
Kansas City Royals
2024 Fantasy Outlook
At best, you could say Melendez stagnated from his first to second season. At worst, you could say he slipped a bit, as a drop in OPS+ from 99 to 95 and a rise in strikeout rate from 24.5 percent to 28.2 percent can attest. If you're looking for a silver lining, it's that Melendez still hit the ball very hard when he made contact, boasting an average exit velocity in the 96th percentile and a barrel rate in the 75th percentile. He's also a flyball hitter and a pull hitter, things that, when combined with his quality of contact, make it curious as to how his home run total dropped. There could still be some untapped potential with Melendez, and he did finish with an .861 OPS and eight homers over the final two months. The team and ballpark context are poor, though, and he's losing catcher eligibility. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#281
ADP
$Signed a one-year contract with the Royals in March of 2024.
Sitting out Game 2 versus lefty
OFKansas City Royals
October 7, 2024
Melendez is absent from the lineup Monday in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Yankees.
ANALYSIS
It's southpaw Carlos Rodon on the hill for the Yankees, so the left-handed-hitting Melendez will begin the festivities on the bench. Tommy Pham will be in left field and batting seventh for the Royals, while Hunter Renfroe will handle right and hit eighth.
Read More News
Batting Stats
Loading Batting Stats...
2024
2023
2022
2024 MLB Game Log
calculator icon
Calculate Stats Over Time
Just click on any two dates.
Scoring
FanDuel
DraftKings
Yahoo DFS
Sorare
Loading Batting Game Log...
2023 MLB Game Log
calculator icon
Calculate Stats Over Time
Just click on any two dates.
Scoring
FanDuel
DraftKings
Yahoo DFS
Sorare
Loading Batting Game Log...
2022 MLB Game Log
calculator icon
Calculate Stats Over Time
Just click on any two dates.
Scoring
FanDuel
DraftKings
Yahoo DFS
Sorare
Loading Batting Game Log...
Minor League Game Log
calculator icon
Calculate Stats Over Time
Just click on any two dates.
Loading Minor League Batting Game Log...
Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
6
41
27
33
2
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
5
2
1
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+12%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+85%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+26%
OPS vs RHP
2022
 
 
+26%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .638 344 34 7 35 4 .234 .279 .359
Since 2022vs Right .717 1242 132 44 127 8 .217 .309 .408
2024vs Left .395 74 5 0 4 0 .164 .176 .219
2024vs Right .732 376 39 17 40 4 .215 .293 .440
2023vs Left .597 144 12 3 17 3 .222 .264 .333
2023vs Right .751 458 53 13 39 3 .239 .332 .420
2022vs Left .839 126 17 4 14 1 .295 .357 .482
2022vs Right .664 408 40 14 48 1 .193 .299 .365
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+13%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+21%
OPS at Home
2023
 
 
+13%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+6%
OPS at Home
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .742 808 93 29 99 7 .241 .318 .424
Since 2022Away .656 778 73 22 63 5 .200 .287 .370
2024Home .739 221 25 8 24 4 .238 .303 .436
2024Away .611 229 19 9 20 0 .176 .245 .367
2023Home .756 317 39 10 34 3 .253 .341 .415
2023Away .667 285 26 6 22 3 .215 .288 .379
2022Home .727 270 29 11 41 0 .229 .304 .424
2022Away .684 264 28 7 21 2 .205 .322 .362
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
0.31
 
BB Rate
7.8%
 
K Rate
25.1%
 
BABIP
.241
 
ISO
.194
 
AVG
.206
 
OBP
.273
 
SLG
.400
 
OPS
.674
 
wOBA
.296
 
Exit Velocity
91.1 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
36.1%
 
Barrels/PA
5.6%
 
Expected BA
.240
 
Expected SLG
.430
 
Sprint Speed
23.9 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
42.1%
 
Line Drive %
16.7%
 
Fly Ball %
41.1%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
Loading Advanced Batting Stats...
Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
Loading Games Played by Position...
Loading MLB Defensive Stats...
Batted Ball Stats
Loading Batted Ball Stats...
Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
Want more matchup stats?
Loading Matchup Stats...
Our full team depth charts are reserved for RotoWire subscribers.
Subscribe Now
Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring MJ Melendez See More
The Z Files: NFBC Postseason Hold'em Contest
31 days ago
The NFBC's Postseason Hold'em contest kicks off at the start of the Division Series, and its scoring system leads to some unusual rankings.
MLB DFS Picks: DraftKings Plays and Strategy for Wednesday, October 2
33 days ago
Hunter Brown is by far the best pitching option for Wednesday DraftKings MLB DFS contests. He will also likely be the most popular, warns Dan Marcus
The Z Files: Generic MLB Playoff Ranks by Position
35 days ago
Todd Zola provides some player rankings ahead of the playoffs, as Mookie Betts and the Dodgers take MLB's best record into the postseason.
The Z Files: Strategy and Rankings for the Underdog Fantasy Playoff Contest
39 days ago
Todd Zola examines strategies for the Underdog postseason contest, and notes that while Shoehi Ohtani may be the best player, you may not want to take him first overall.
Collette Calls: Bold Hitter Predictions Accountability
40 days ago
Jason Collette reviews the hits and misses from his hitting half of his preseason bold predictions, including big hits on Brenton Doyle and Mark Vientos.
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2022
2019
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.
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
Out again versus lefty
OFKansas City Royals
September 27, 2024
Melendez is absent from the lineup for Friday's game in Atlanta.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Sitting versus lefty
OFKansas City Royals
September 26, 2024
Melendez is absent from the lineup for Thursday's contest against the Nationals.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Not in lineup against lefty
OFKansas City Royals
September 24, 2024
Melendez is not in the lineup for Tuesday's game versus the Nationals.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Sitting versus southpaw
OFKansas City Royals
September 22, 2024
Melendez is not in the lineup for Sunday's contest against the Giants.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Getting night off
OFKansas City Royals
September 18, 2024
Melendez is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Tigers.
ANALYSIS
Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Latest Fantasy Rumors
Punishing baseballs
OFKansas City Royals
April 26, 2023
Melendez leads the league with an average exit velocity of 96.2 mph.
ANALYSIS
Melendez is slashing just .178/.282/.342 through 90 plate appearances, but when he's making contact he's among the most dangerous young hitters in baseball. Melendez supplied 18 homers last season and is an intriguing buy-low in deeper leagues and keeper formats.
See All MLB Rumors