Prospect Watch: Cristofer Melendez Looking to Find Career With Pittsburgh
Scouting for Major League baseball is anything but an exact science and not the easiest job to do. When you see a guy either in college or in the foreign market, he might have good stuff on paper, but it has trouble translating to professional baseball. This was the case in the early part of minor leaguer Cristofer Melendez's career. He was initially signed by the Houston Astros out of the Dominican Republic and got three different chances in the Dominican Summer League and didn't pan out. However, the saying one team's failure is another team's success applied as the Pirates acquired Melendez in a trade and he has been showing vast improvement since the move.
Last season, he pitched for the Greensboro Grasshoppers and, while he posted a 5.13 ERA, he showed great strikeout numbers and was missing opponent's bats on a consistent basis. One of his major problems was the number of walks he was giving up as he has yet to find good control at the Major League level, with 26 walks in 47.1 innings of work. These walks hurt Melendez throughout the season as the more they got on base, the more they were coming around to score. Melendez has good stuff, with a fastball that reaches 96, but when he works deep into games he starts to get tired. He is now working as a full-time reliever in Pittsburgh's system and is hoping to make the most of his opportunity.
Melendez was born in Azua, Dominican Republic, and always had a talent for the sport of baseball. With a fastball that hits consistently in the high 90s, he has turned heads ever since he started to develop and hone his skills. He performed at several different showcases throughout his time as a young player, and his fastball was the main weapon he showed off. While he got looks from many different teams, it was the Houston Astros that ended up signing him and helping him begin his professional career. At the time, of his signing the Astros Director of International Oz Ocampo told the Houston Chronicle "Cristofer Melendez is a tall projectable right-handed pitcher with clean arm action and solid mechanics. He throws a fastball that jumps out of his hand, and he has a solid feel for the curveball."
Melendez would sign his first professional contract at 16 years old in July of 2014 and would make his debut in the Dominican Summer League the next season. He would start on short-relief for the DSL Astros and his ERA got up to 2.78 by seasons end. He had serious control issues walking 14 batters in 22.1 innings of work, and he saw a lower strikeout rate for a one-inning reliever with only 19 on the season. He never worked more than three innings in any of his appearances and he was tagged for at least one run allowed in seven of his 17 games that season.
While his ERA didn't look bad on paper, Melendez gave up runs at a much higher rate than a one-inning reliever should. His runs allowed per nine innings was at 3.97 and opponents were reaching base at a .380 clip against him. One of his worst outings of the season came in his second to last appearance where he gave up two earned runs on three his while walking three over 1.1 innings of work. That outing rocketed his ERA up and took away a lot of his confidence for the end of the season. He was still hitting that 96 miles per hour mark, but the walks were killing the young pitcher and taking away some of the wow factors that came with signing him.
Melendez would spend each of the next two seasons in the Dominical Summer League with the Astros and things continued to get worse. His ERA went up in both of those seasons as he tried to make the transition to a long-relief arm. In 2016, he appeared in 14 games out of the bullpen for the Astros Orange and went 4-2 with a 3.86 ERA. He was getting hit around more than he was the year before, with a .252 batting average against, and even though his walk rate dropped slightly, it was still sitting at 11%. He pitched to a 2.57 ERA to start the year, and things only got worse as he continued to get tagged for runs night in and night out. He ended the season allowing three earned runs in four innings of work capping off what would be another hard season.
The Astros were hoping that the third time was a charm during the 2017 season, but that did nothing but hurt Melendez's chances even more. His ERA would go up to a staggering 7.68 as he appeared in 17 games, making three starts. His trials as a starter came at the beginning of the season and were a big reason for the elevated ERA. In those three outings, he pitched to a 10.45 ERA giving up 12 earned runs in 10.1 innings of work. Things didn't get better as he moved back to the bullpen, and he would be released by the Astros at the end of the 2017 season. Melendez was looking for the next step in his professional career, and that would come when he signed with the Chicago Whitesox in April of 2018.
He would be sent down to the DSL Whitesox again, but this time he had a drastic turnaround and looked like the guy he was when the Astros signed him in 2014. His ERA dropped to 1.54 as he made the transition back to the starting rotation and ended up going 4-4. After using his fastball almost exclusively in years before, he started mixing in his curveball more often and was starting to get those swings and misses that he wasn't getting in years prior. In 70.1 innings of work, he struck out 93 batters bringing his strikeout rate to a respectable 33.1%. He also got a better handle on his control walking just 28 batters while holding opponents to a .454 OPS.
He was lights out during the month of August making four starts at the end of the season going 1-1 with a 0.84 ERA while striking out 32 batters and walking seven. This late-season success finally gave him some confidence heading into an off-season and the Whitesox had to decide if they were going to protect him in the Rule 5 Draft. They decided not too and he would end up being taken by the Sam Diego Padres in the Triple-A portion of the draft. It would be a short stint in the Padres organization for Melendez as he was traded to the Pirates for cash considerations just hours after being picked by the Padres. With Melendez having spent the last four years in the Dominican Summer League, it was time to try young pitcher to move to full-season ball.
He pitched for the Pirates Class-Low A Greensboro Grasshoppers last season and made his return to the bullpen. After having a breakout year the season before, his ERA went back up to 5.13 in 28 appearances for the Grasshoppers but his strikeout rate continued to stay high throughout the season. He struck out a career-high 36% of the batters he faced last season, but walks would once again burn him as he gave out 28 free passes in 47.1 innings of work. He continued to be a multi-inning reliever working anywhere for one to three innings per appearance and overall had success for the Grasshoppers.
His best month of the season came in June when he had a 1.68 ERA giving up just two earned runs over 10.2 innings of work. He had another rough outing towards the end of the season which shot his ERA up and he could not recover despite five scoreless innings to end the season. With Melendez entering his sixth season of professional baseball when the Minor League season resumes, he is looking to climb the ladder and see if he can build off his success at the higher levels. He should get a shot in the Advanced-A Bradenton bullpen when Minor League baseball resumes, and he will hope to continue striking out batters at a high rate. If he can do this, his 96 mph fastball might make the fourth time the charm for the young right-hander.
The Major League Baseball season is set yo begin on July 23rd and July 24th with teams reporting to Spring Training on July 1st. As the season gets closer, we at Buccos Cove are determined to get you ready for the Coronavirus shortened season with analysis, predictions, and everything you need to know before the season begins. Be sure to follow us on Facebook at Buccos Cove for all the exciting Pittsburgh Pirates coverage every single day.
Comments
Post a Comment