MJ Melendez may be heating up at just the right time for KC Royals

KC Royals outfielder MJ Melendez, much maligned for his poor plate performance during the first half of last season, caught fire after the 2023 All-Star Break. The better-than-acceptable .273/.352/.485 he slashed and 10 home runs he hit after what's traditionally (but not mathematically) considered the major league season midpoint quieted at least some of his critics and gave fans hope he'd be good for the entire 2024 campaign.

But mere hope isn't always accurately predictive; such is the case with Melendez who, despite homering 10 times, struggled to hit .196 before everyone but the four Royals who made this year's American League All-Star team headed for a few days' rest when this July's ASG hiatus rolled around.

Now, though, it appears that for Melendez, this year's second half may be a rerun of last season's. Count the Royals as happy if that's indeed what is happening.

MJ Melendez is getting better at the plate

Melendez, to whom the Royals seem so dedicated, hadn't ended a baseball day with an average above .200 since April 25 when on Aug. 3 he went 1-for-3 at Detroit. The hit was only a single, but it triggered a span of 18 August games during which he's failed to hit safely only five times.

And after being one of the only bright spots in Kansas City's horrible 11-3 shellacking at Philadelphia's hands Sunday — he was 2-for-3 with a double and his 16th home run of the year, a solo sixth-inning solo shot that turned out to be the Royals' final score of the day and left him just two homers shy of equaling his total for all of last season, Melendez is slashing .320/.370/.640 this month, with four homers and eight RBI to boot. He hit .280 and clubbed four home runs last August.

Only time and Melendez's hitting will tell whether he'll conclude 2024 with the kind of numbers we predicted for him before the season began. But present positive signs suggest Melendez's bat is coming around just when the Royals' run for the playoffs requires some additional punch. If he finishes this month strongly, and performs next month like he did over last year's final month when he posted an excellent .409 OBP, a respectable .261 average, and homered four times and drove in 12 runs in 22 games, Kansas City will get a nice offensive boost.

We shall see.

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