2 The Bigs

By Matt Castagna:

It’s no mistake the spotlight is shining so brightly on the National League Champion Arizona Diamondbacks.

The team’s magical journey to the 2023 World Series happened so quickly due to the surge in their player development. As seen from the recent production that Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas, and Brandon Pfdatt have provided this Fall. Carroll is the odds on favorite to win the National League’s Rookie of the Year, Pfdatt won Game 7 of the NLCS on the road against Philadelpia and Thomas has provided some of the biggest hits and home runs of the postseason for Arizona.

Even shortstop phenom Jordan Lawlar has made and stayed on the playoff roster. The Diamondbacks are getting early and strong returns on their prospects.

So what’s next in Arizona’s farm system, or better yet who’s next?

Ivan Melendez.

People may know Melendez from his dominance in college at Texas where he took home the honors of Golden Spike Award (Best Player in College Baseball) in 2022. He was quite the power source, hitting 32 home runs in his final college season and setting the BBCOR-era record for most homers in a year, a record that was previously held by Kris Bryant.

The question then remained how well would his success translate in the big leagues and where would he land in the next year’s MLB Draft. The Diamondbacks had their eye on the Longhorn in Texas and were ready to cash in on the power source early in the second round.

Ivan Melendez came from a big-time college program, has lights out power, but will he be a big time player? Let’s dive in to his minor league performances.

In 2023 Melendez split time between Single and Double-A and topped out his minor league season with a cool 30 home runs. To go a step further, he wasn’t strictly a homer guy. He stayed competitive at the plate with a .270 batting average and had an OPS of .945. He was top-25 across all minor leaguers in slugging percentage as well. He’s currently playing for the Salt River Rafters after being selected for the Arizona Fall League where he’s making some more noise.

I am no scout, but from the eye test you could comp him to former National League home run champ and slugger Pete Alonso. Can you guess the one area of concern that would comp him closer to an out-of-his prime Adam Dunn?

Yep, you got it.

He strikes out (WAY) too much. He struck out at a whopping 34 percent rate last year. That’s not a typo. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is more than plus-250 percent compared to the average minor league player. That just won’t translate to a successful big league career.

The flashes of power are there though. Melendez hit a homer every 12 at-bats, which was good for sixth best across all Double-A players with at least 150 at-bats. At 23 years old, this is a big offseason for him to prove he can hit major league pitching consistently.

Good thing there are no icebergs in Arizona to slowdown “The Hispanic Titanic” as he continues to rise through the system and rankings. Checking in as the Diamondbacks No. 8 prospect in the system on MLB.com you can find value for this prospect. His first Bowman can be found in the Bowman Draft 2022 set. Base autos can be found for $40, but I would recommend getting a nice colored team-match auto. The green refactor is $89 and a Black goes for $200.