Royals minor-league catcher M.J. Melendez continues charitable efforts in offseason

M.J. Melendez had a busy offseason after his first full season with the Royals Class A Lexington Legends last year.

Melendez, who was selected in the second round of the 2017 MLB draft out of Westminster Christian High in Miami, continued to work on his game in an effort to build upon his season in Lexington, where he hit .251 with 19 home runs and 73 RBIs.

But the catcher had other important work to do while he was home in Miami. He hosted his second M.J. Melendez Baseball Camp, which helps young players learn the game while also supporting organizations in the community.

It is a donation-only camp, and Melendez, whose parents were born in Puerto Rico, directed $5,000 from his first camp in 2017 to a Boys & Girls Club in Puerto Rico. Last summer, the camp raised money for Florida Baptist Children’s Homes in Miami.

In addition to Melendez, the camp staff is filled with experienced baseball people, including his father, Mervyl, who is head coach at Florida International University. Angels prospect Jo Adell, Kyle Lewis of the Mariners organization, Orioles prospect J.C. Escarra, Eddie Silva of the Brewers organization and Joe Dunand, who is in the Marlins organization, also helped out at the camp.

Melendez, 20, knows the value of having such an experienced, high-profile staff because he sees a young version of himself in the campers.

“I think it’s just something that, as a kid, I looked up to pro baseball players,” Melendez said. “I didn’t necessarily get to have one-on-one contact with them, go to any camps or anything like that. But I know that’s something that, if I was a kid, I would have loved that.”

He wanted to get involved in helping the youth of Miami and decided a baseball camp made sense.

“MJ is all about the people that he grew up around,” said Adell, who is a close friend of Melendez. “It’s important for him to give his knowledge back and teach kids and be involved with the community in Miami. It was important for me to go.”

Melendez also is trying to establish himself in the Royals organization. In addition to his camp, he built a YouTube channel that features his work on and off the field.

It includes an offseason workout with Royals catcher Salvador Perez, who had surgery Wednesday to repair his ulnar collateral ligament. While Perez is lost for the season, that is unlikely to alter the path Melendez is on with the club as a non-roster invitee to spring training.

Melendez, who is the youngest player in the Royals camp, is trying to soak up as much knowledge as he can from more veteran players while he’s in the Cactus League.

“I just wanted to take the opportunity to grow and learn as a player and listen to what all the veterans have to say,” Melendez said. “Just try to implement that into my game and bring that back down to the minor leagues whenever I get back down there.”

He hopes to implement some of the things he has learned watching Perez go about his business when he is in the minor leagues this season.

A big part of that is learning to build relationships with the pitchers he works with.

“So that’s something I’m going to want to do at this level and also at the minor league level whenever I need to talk to my pitchers and get to know them better,” he said.

The Royals have other options for the big-league club, but the organization is high on Melendez’s future.

“He’s very athletic. He got a great body for a catcher,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “He receives the ball very well. But, just extremely talented, athletic young man.”

Meanwhile, Melendez is trying to keep his YouTube channel updated amid a busy spring training schedule. He said his channel will not only touch upon what being a professional baseball player is like, but also a look into his life outside of baseball.

Melendez admitted it is tough to produce content on YouTube weekly because of the time commitment it takes to shoot and edit the video himself.

“I just wanted to give people a better look at what it’s like to be a pro baseball player, especially in the minor leagues as I’m trying to make my way up,” Melendez said. “A lot of people don’t necessarily know exactly what it entails, what it involves, so I just wanted to give people a better look at that.”