D-backs’ Ivan Melendez Breaks Out After Early Struggles
Through his first nine games of the season, first baseman Ivan Melendez had as many hits as he did stints on the injured list: two.
His season—and his professional career, really–had not gone according to plan, but the depth of the 23-year-old’s struggles helped get him back on track.
“I was like, ‘It can’t get any worse at this point,’ ” Melendez said. “You get to a certain point and you’re like, ‘You’ve got what you got, and you go out there and play and tune out all the noise.”
After that miserable start, Melendez has proceeded to be just the type of slugger the D-backs envisioned when they drafted him in the second round in 2022 from Texas.
In 45 games from May 5 to July 4, he hit .308/.371/.676 with 16 homers for High-A Hillsboro, numbers befitting a player who won the BA College Player of the Year award as a senior in 2022.
His college days left him somewhat ill-prepared in one respect: He had never had to deal with failure. But he had heard it was coming, and he wound up leaning on advice he received, including from all-star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, an assistant coach at Texas.
“Tulo and other guys who played in the pros before, they kind of explained the roller coaster and waves that come with success and failing,” Melendez said. “Whenever I would deal with that failure, I’d be like, ‘Oh, that’s what they’re talking about.’ It was coming. This game is not easy.”
The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Melendez struggled in a 29-game pro debut out of the draft, then went just 2-for-his-first-28 this year, a stretch that included an 11-day absence after being hit by a 95 mph fastball near his left eye on April 21.
Melendez was still striking out at a 34% clip and was continuing to work on his defense, including seeing time at third base, but he said he wants to keep improving in hopes of finishing his season at Double-A.
