The New York Mets are signing free agent outfielder MJ Melendez to a one-year contract worth $1.5 million with an additional $500,000 in incentives, according to multiple reports on Sunday.
Melendez, 27, batted just .083 (5-for-60) last season with one home run and one RBI in 23 games with the Kansas City Royals.
He batted .261 with 20 homers and 64 RBIs in 107 games at Triple-A Omaha last season.
After leading all of minor league baseball with a combined 41 homers for the Royals’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates in 2021, Melendez was rated Kansas City’s second-best prospect 2022, behind only shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
Melendez had spent his entire professional baseball career with the Royals, who selected him as a catcher in the second round of the 2017 MLB Draft. The left-handed batter is a career .215 hitter with 52 homers and 163 RBIs in 435 games for Kansas City from 2022-25. Perhaps his best campaign was 2023, when he batted .235 with 16 homers and 56 RBIs with a .316 on-base percentage and .398 slugging percentage in 148 games.
