2025 Fantasy Baseball: MJ Melendez Profile, Preview, Predictions
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MJ Melendez is young enough to have another gear in his game. After three seasons with the Royals, he's settled into a dirty power hitter with weakness vs. lefties.
MJ MELENDEZ PINCH-HIT, GO-AHEAD HOME RUN IN THE NINTH!!! #Royals
— FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City (@FanDuelSN_KC) August 4, 2024
Watch on Bally Sports, https://t.co/4FtfJsLRIh and the Bally Sports app. pic.twitter.com/4mxwbzEAj4
OF – MJ Melendez, KC (ADP – 364.8)
There has been some talk about a new swing path for Melendez heading into spring training after seeing his batting average plummet to .206 in 2024. Over his first 10 games, he’s 9-for-30 with six runs, two home runs, seven RBIs, and a stolen base, but Melendez struck out 10 times.
Last year, an ankle issue knocked him out of action for 10 days in July, followed by more days off vs. left-handed pitching. Melendez hit only .164 over 73 at-bats against lefties with five runs, no home runs, four RBIs, and 15 strikeouts. In his rookie season, his bat had more value in this area (.295/17/4/14/1 over 112 at-bats with 11 walks and 22 strikeouts).
His only month of value came in August (.311 over 74 at-bats with 12 runs, five home runs, 12 RBIs, and one stolen base). He hit under .200 until August 10th (.199/32/13/36/2 over 296 at-bats). Melendez finished with a career-low walk rate (7.8), with some improvement in his strikeout rate (25.1).
His exit velocity (91.1 mph) and hard-hit rate (45.0) came in below 2023 (93.2/49.6) while seeing a sharp decline in line drives (16.7%).
Fantasy Outlook: The highlight power season for Melendez came in 2021 between AA and AAA (.288/95/41/103/3 over 448 at-bats). At this point in his career, he projects as a platoon bat until his bat shows more life against left-handed pitching. He is a low-average tweener who only had playable starting fantasy value due to his catcher eligibility earlier in his career.
At best, Melendez is a short-term injury cover or bench option in deep formats. If balls are going over the fence, sign him up for another week.
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With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.
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