Melendez moves on up, keeps hitting homers
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Ivan Melendez can’t stop mashing in the Yellow City.
The seventh-ranked D-backs prospect, who has homered in all of his last four games, went yard twice Tuesday night en route to Double-A Amarillo's 10-7 win over Wichita at HODGETOWN.
But Melendez was reaching the fences before the All-Star break … and even before his callup to the Sod Poodles.
The 23-year-old's first long ball of the night (his 21st of the season) came on the first pitch he saw from righty Carlos Luna (Twins) in the second inning. With one on, he swung at a low pitch and deposited it onto the left-field concourse.
After walking in the third, Melendez punished a 2-1 pitch from righty Isaac Mattson not just out of the park, but over the scoreboard in left for another two-run homer two innings later. The ball soared a reported 471 feet.
“I was really excited and happy with the way the ball came off my bat. It felt pretty good,” he said of his second dinger of the night. “Obviously [it was a] no-doubter, but you know, I just put the bat down and started jogging.”
Melendez went 2-for-4 with a walk and three runs scored while extending the home run streak that started in his final game for High-A Hillsboro on July 9.
This wasn't his first such streak of the season either. The 2022 second-round pick left the park four games straight between May 9-13 for the Hops.
“I don't think there's anything you can do to try to set that pace, hitting homers," Melendez said. "They come in bunches, kind of like hits. You either get them or you don't and that's just kind of how the game works. ... I just go out and play the game.”
The El Paso native is a Texas boy through and through. Before going 43rd overall to Arizona in last year's Draft, Melendez split his college years between Odessa -- a junior college near Midland -- and UT-Austin.
“I definitely feel more support and more recognition from the fans [in Amarillo]," he said.
So that made the first baseman’s Double-A debut Friday a little extra special. His family made the seven-hour trek from El Paso to watch him play -- and hit one out of the park.
“They surprised me,” Melendez said. “I didn't think they were gonna make it out because they were just in Hillsboro, like a week before that.”
Through three games and 11 at-bats for the Sod Poodles, Melendez is slashing .455/.538/1.545.