There are myriad reasons why Texas first baseman Ivan Melendez’s 2022 season shouldn’t have happened the way it did, beginning with the fact that it’s unreasonable to expect any player, no matter how talented, to do what he did.
It certainly wasn’t the expectation upon his arrival in Austin.
“I can just look back and see him hanging out in our dugout, a little insecure and just hoping that he fits into the program and that he can be a contributor,” Texas coach David Pierce said. “I never saw this coming.”
This, as it turns out, is arguably the best offensive season any player has had since college baseball switched to the current BBCOR bats for the 2011 season.
Going into the College World Series, Melendez had hit .396/.516/.888 with 32 home runs and 94 RBIs. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound righthanded hitter won the triple crown in the Big 12 Conference and was the runaway leader in homers and RBIs nationally.
He is also our pick for College Player of the Year.
When you start to talk about the early indications Melendez showed that he could be a special player, the conversation begins with his game-changing power.
“You started seeing signs of it once we got into (his first) spring. And his power is different,” Pierce said. “You have guys who have 5 o’clock power (in batting practice) and the game starts at 6:30. He’s not a five o’clock guy. He’s a gamer.
“And there’s guys who have that power that doesn’t equate in the game—and he has game power. He has the knack of staying through the baseball as well as anybody (we’ve) had.”
Melendez’s numbers are eye-popping, but so is his consistency. After a 3-for-5 game against Texas State on March 9, his average jumped from .298 to .327 and it never again dipped below .300. In fact, his average was actually above .400 from April 24 until June 11. For much of that time, it looked like he might challenge for the national triple crown.
Melendez had a really nice year in 2021, hitting .319/.438/.603 with 13 homers and 51 RBIs, but this season was something on an entirely different level.
“Definitely the experience,” Melendez said of what allowed for his improvement. “I’m a year older. I had a whole year under my belt. Just preparing in the offseason, doing my two-a-day training: lifting at night, hitting in the morning.”
The other prominent reason why Melendez’s standout season could just as easily not have happened is that he had options after last season.
The Marlins drafted…
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