Kansas City Royals’ MJ Melendez is first catcher in franchise history to bat leadoff
When Royals ironman Whit Merrifield’s streak of 553 straight games played in the major leagues ended Monday, Royals manager Mike Matheny turned to an unusual option to replace the usual leadoff hitter: his catcher.
Rookie MJ Melendez made franchise history as the first Royals catcher ever to bat leadoff in the second game of Monday’s doubleheader.
After going 1 for 3 with a walk, sacrifice-fly RBI and two runs scored on Monday, he was back at the top of the batting order again Tuesday.
“(Bench coach) Pedro (Grifol) has been throwing that at me for a while, and we talked with the guys upstairs,” Matheny said on Monday. “You’re looking at one of the better on-base percentages on our club. He’s taking his walks. He did it right from the top.”
Matheny said he’s never seen a catcher bat leadoff in his lengthy career as a former catcher and manager. Melendez said he hasn’t hit leadoff since his senior year of high school and was a little surprised to learn he would be batting first.
But Grifol’s influence and the open leadoff spot meant Melendez would continue his audition at the leadoff spot. After all, “it ain’t broke,” Matheny said.
It also didn’t hurt that Melendez is one of the faster catchers in the league. To kick off Tuesday’s game against the Tigers, he wheeled his way around the bases for a leadoff triple after jumping on the first pitch and blasting it into the depths of Kauffman’s center field.
“He’s one of the faster guys, even though typically we don’t think that with our catchers, but he runs really well,” Matheny said. “So he’s not going to clog up the bases, but he’s got power to do damage, and you want those guys up there as often as possible.”
The leadoff triple was only the third in MLB history by a catcher, and his sprint speed of 27.8 feet per second to get the three bases put him at fourth among all catchers.
His 29 walks on the season also put him in the 89th percentile for walk rate across the majors.
“Seeing MJ leading off, everyone was talking about it in the locker room,” Royals rookie Bobby Witt Jr. said. “It’s always great seeing a guy like him up there, just the plate discipline he has and just how he’s so athletic.”
Melendez came around to score the first run of the Royals’ 7-5 loss Tuesday night.
“I like (hitting leadoff) a lot,” Melendez said. “Just trying to start off the game, get on base, find a way to score. I know as a catcher when the other team is able to do that, it puts a lot of pressure on the pitcher. So to be able to do that on the offensive side is cool.”
After striking out twice on Tuesday, Melendez recovered when he faced southpaw closer Gregory Soto in the ninth inning. Battling back from an 0-2 count, he fouled off two pitches and then smashed a hanging slider down the first-base line for a double and make things interesting at the end.
“That at-bat he put against Soto at the end, that’s just so impressive ... to put those kinds of at-bats together against a guy that has that from the left side,” Matheny said.
And even if he showed some growing pains behind the plate — committing a throwing error when the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera stole third, and ultimately waltzed home on the bad throw — Melendez proved he can handle his business at the plate.
Even as the leadoff hitter.
This story was originally published July 12, 2022 at 10:45 PM.