MJ Melendez

Bats L Throws R6'1" 190 lbBorn 1998 Daytona Beach, USADebut 2022Team NYMDraft 2017 R2 #52 Kansas City Royals, Westminster (FL) HS

Projections

2027 NEXT+ 97.9FIELD+ 99.9 at LFTotal 0.52 WAR

Season	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	ISO	wOBA	K%	BB%	HIT+	WAR
2026	156	139	31	7	1	6	15	42	2	0.225	0.301	0.419	0.720	0.193	0.313	27.1	9.4	99.9	0.48
2027	183	162	35	7	1	8	18	52	2	0.214	0.295	0.419	0.715	0.205	0.311	28.5	9.7	101.1	0.59

Projected rates are per plate appearance or batter faced; counting stats scale with projected playing time. Statcast measurements inform these projections as inputs and are reported as measurements, not projected.

Most similar through age 26

His ten closest age-26 comparables averaged 111 HIT+ the next season; 5 of 10 played. Averages cover only the players who got a next season, which is why the played count matters.

#	Player	Through	HIT+ then	Next season	Next PA / BF
1	Jacoby Ellsbury	2010	90.9	147.9	729
2	Nomar Mazara	2021	88.1	97.8	171
3	Wilbur Good	1912	93.9	101.8	103
4	Charlie Jamieson	1919	82.1	108.4	425
5	Denny Sullivan	1909	87.1	did not play
6	Bill Sharp	1976	80.7	did not play
7	Jim Gosger	1969	87.5	97.1	312
8	Bruce Boisclair	1979	94.3	did not play
9	Fred Brickell	1933	74.7	did not play
10	Boots Day	1974	75.0	did not play

Batting

Year	Team	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	HIT+
2027 proj			183		35	7	1	8		2	18	52	0.214	0.295	0.419	0.715	101.1
2026*	NYN	56	144	14	23	5	1	4		0	17	50	0.192	0.315	0.350	0.665	93.7
2025	KC	23	65	5	5	2	0	1	1	0	3	23	0.083	0.154	0.167	0.321	-12.7
2024	KC	135	450	44	85	23	3	17	44	4	35	113	0.206	0.273	0.400	0.674	86.8
2023	KC	148	602	65	125	29	5	16	56	6	62	170	0.235	0.316	0.398	0.713	95.3
2022	KC	129	534	57	100	21	3	18	62	2	66	131	0.217	0.313	0.393	0.706	99.6
Career		435	1651	171	315	75	11	52	163	12	166	437	0.215	0.297	0.388	0.685	90.1

Statcast

Year	PA	EV	LA	Barrel%	HardHit%	Whiff%	Chase%	xBA	xSLG	xwOBA	Sprint
2026	144	94.2	23.6	11.1	55.6	34.5	29.5	0.166	0.317	0.280	27.2
2025	65	90.9	25.0	8.1	45.9	41.0	32.8	0.137	0.261	0.208	27.2
2024	451	91.1	14.6	8.4	45.2	29.5	28.3	0.237	0.434	0.321	27.8
2023	602	93.2	16.9	11.4	49.6	34.4	26.9	0.231	0.439	0.326	27.6
2022	534	90.7	15.1	10.4	43.5	27.8	24.0	0.237	0.427	0.336	27.8

Fielding

Year	Team	Pos	G	Inn	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	Runs saved
2025	KC	OF	23	134	24	3	0	1	1.000
2024	KC	OF	124	964	190	2	2	1	0.990
2024	KC	1B	1	1	3	0	0	0	1.000	-0.0
2023	KC	OF	130	1043	244	11	8	1	0.970
2023	KC	C	10	69	80	1	1	0	0.988	+0.0
2023	KC	1B	1	1	0	0	0	0		-0.4
2022	KC	C	78	578	467	27	5	3	0.990	-16.2
2022	KC	OF	38	312	67	2	2	0	0.972

Runs saved covers the Statcast era; for catchers it includes framing.

Minor leagues

Year	Level	Team	Side	PA / BF	Line	AVG / ERA	OPS
2026	AAA	Syracuse Mets	Bat	204	15 HR, 5 SB	0.236	0.895
2025	AAA	Omaha Storm Chasers	Bat	480	20 HR, 20 SB	0.261	0.813
2022	AAA	Omaha Storm Chasers	Bat	91	2 HR, 3 SB	0.167	0.581
2021	AAA	Omaha Storm Chasers	Bat	184	13 HR, 1 SB	0.293	1.033
2021	AA	Northwest Arkansas Naturals	Bat	347	28 HR, 2 SB	0.285	1.000
2019	A+	Wilmington Blue Rocks	Bat	419	9 HR, 7 SB	0.163	0.571
2018	A	Lexington Legends	Bat	472	19 HR, 4 SB	0.251	0.814
2017	Rk	AZL Royals	Bat	198	4 HR, 4 SB	0.262	0.791

Splits

Year	vs LHP	vs RHP	Home	Away
2026	0.400	0.290	0.318	0.287
2025	0.373	0.106	0.138	0.172
2024	0.174	0.322	0.331	0.267
2023	0.269	0.339	0.345	0.296
2022	0.372	0.294	0.315	0.310

wOBA by split, from pitch level data, 2015 on. For pitchers the split is the batter side faced.

Postseason batting

Year	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2024	6	20	1	3	0	0	1	2	0	0	3	0.150	0.150	0.300	0.450
Career	6	20	1	3	0	0	1	2	0	0	3	0.150	0.150	0.300	0.450