MJ Melendez was thrust into a challenging situation last month. The struggling New York Mets faced the Los Angeles Dodgers on the road, amid what would become a 12-game losing streak. Seeking a spark, Melendez was plugged into the lineup and laced two doubles and notched an RBI against Shohei Ohtani. Though the Mets lost 8-2, Melendez has since been a reliable asset.
Melendez has been contributing in the heart of the order for the Mets, an unexpected development for the preseason playoff favorites. On Wednesday in Colorado, he added a triple, a walk, and a check-swing single. Keith Hernandez remarked after the lucky single, “When you’re hot, you’re hot,” on SNY.
The club lost eight more games after Melendez’s debut, but he has not been at fault. In just 16 games as DH and outfielder, the fifth-year player has blown away his career numbers, posting a 158 wRC+ and .912 OPS to lift a struggling lineup.
The question remains: can he put up numbers anywhere close to that for a sustained period? Injuries and poor offensive consistency have put the Mets in a deep hole in the standings despite an enormous payroll. Asking a reclamation project in Melendez to help carry the lineup is a tough ask, but he says he’s up for the challenge.
“It’s really cool to have that so-called pressure,” he told the media in late April. “I think that it’s something that you either love or you hate. I feel like I love that kind of thing.”
Melendez was drafted by the Royals in 2017 and ranked the No. 42 overall prospect by Baseball America upon his May 2022 debut. He was a league-average hitter as a rookie before declining the next two seasons. He spent most of 2025 in Triple-A before the Royals declined his option.
Getting another shot in the majors, Melendez has been the second luckiest hitter on the Mets so far this season; his .458 BABIP trails just Austin Slater’s .556, whos number is obviously enhanced by his mere 12 plate appearances. Melendez’s wOBA of .398 vs his xwOBA of .271 shows that somehow he keeps finding ways to produce, with the help of a lucky bounce here and there. Meanwhile, 13 of the 17 Mets who have registered at-bats this season have recorded the opposite results. The only other players overperforming their expected metrics are Ronny Mauricio and Jared Young, who are both on the injured list, and Slater in extremely limited playing time.
Melendez will likely regress at some point, but he remains a valuable depth piece for an injury-plagued team. Perhaps if Melendez comes back down to earth, the rest of the lineup will also regress to the mean. New York would gladly take some middle ground, given the deep hole they face.
Even if Melendez cannot sustain his current pace, a change of scenery and his motivation to prove himself after being let go by the Royals may help him remain a valuable and surprising contributor to the Mets roster.
