New York Mets Minor League Report: MJ Melendez Grinds Away For Syracuse

[Tom Gatto]

MJ Melendez will need to catch a break to return to the major leagues this season. He's keeping himself ready for it while parked at Syracuse.  

He homered in his first two at-bats and drove in five runs Friday in Syracuse's 10-4 victory at St. Paul.  That gave him 20 homers for the club overall and 18 since rejoining it from New York on June 30. He has 34 extra-base hits, a .660 slugging percentage and a 1.035 OPS in that span.

Melendez, 27, got an opportunity with the big club in mid-April when Juan Soto went on the injured list. During his two-month stay, he gave the Mets exactly what he gave the Kansas City Royals for parts of four seasons: a little slug and a lot of strikeouts. He homered four times among 10 extra-base hits, but fanned at a 34.7 percent clip, high even for him, in 144 plate appearances.

New York brought up outfield prospect Nick Morabito over Melendez and others when MLB rosters expanded to 28 players on Sept. 1. The Mets have kept the position-player group unchanged since. An injury would appear to be Melendez's only path back to the Show in 2026.

As for the other Mets affiliate still playing this season, Binghamton gave up seven runs the second inning and lost 8-4 to Portland on Friday. R.J. Gordon stumbled in his final start of the season, charged with six runs on four hits (one a home run) and three walks over 1 2/3 innings.

Eddinson Paulino hit his first Double-A home run in the loss.  

New York Mets Transactions

• New York Mets designated RHP Chris Devenski for assignment.
• New York Mets recalled RHP Jack Weisenburger from Syracuse Mets.

Melendez, Syracsue Come Out Hot Against St. Paul

The Mets plated five runs in the first and four more in the second to take a 9-0 lead. Melendez was involved in both outbursts.

Vidal Bruján led opened the scoring in the first with his fourth home run of the season. Ronny Mauricio walked and Melendez followed with a two-run homer. Eric Wagaman singled, Billy Amick doubled him to third, Jose Ramos singled home Wagaman, and Hayden Senger singled in Amick for a 5-0 lead.

Bruján ignited the Mets again in the second with a leadoff walk. He reached second when Mauricio's fielder's choice grounder was misplayed for an error. Melendez made the error hurt with a three-run homer. Amick doubled again and Jose Ramos singled him in for a 9-0 margin.

Melendez doubled in the fourth and scored on a Ramos force out. Syracuse was held scoreless on two hits over the final five innings.

Kevin Herget went the first three innings in a piggyback game. He allowed two runs and five hits, with no walks and one strikeout. Saul Garcia was credited with the win after throwing two hitless innings with a walk and three strikeouts.

Things got ragged in the ninth as Brian Metoyer walked three, including one with the bases loaded, and hit a batter. Jefry Yan came in and induced a double-play grounder to end the game.

Syracuse Batting

Player	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K
D'Andre Smith, CF	5	0	1	0	0	2
Vidal Bruján, SS	3	2	1	1	2	1
Ronny Mauricio, 2B	4	2	0	0	1	1
MJ Melendez, RF	5	3	4	5	0	1
Eric Wagaman, 1B	4	1	1	0	1	1
Billy Amick, DH	5	2	2	0	0	1
Jose Ramos, LF	4	0	2	3	0	1
Hayden Senger, C	4	0	1	1	0	0
Nick Lorusso, 3B	4	0	1	0	0	1
Totals	38	10	13	10	4	9

Syracuse Pitching

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR
Kevin Herget	3	5	2	2	0	1	1
Saul Garcia (W, 1-0)	2	0	0	0	1	3	0
Garrett Stratton	2	4	1	1	0	1	0
Brian Metoyer	1 1/3	0	1	1	3	3	0
Jefry Yan	0 2/3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	9	9	4	4	4	8	1

Gordon Puts Binghamton In Big Early Hole

Gordon was in Grand Central Mets' prospect Top 20 for a lot of the season, but he was off it in the August update. His final numbers for Binghamton were an eyesore: a 5.05 ERA, 20.1 percent strikeout rate, 10.4 percent walk rate and 3.0 percent home run rate.

The homer he allowed Friday was a one-out, two-run shot in the second that opened the scoring. Gordon retired the next batter, but the inning unraveled from there:  walk, stolen base, walk, RBI double, two-run single by rehabbing Boston star Willson Contreras, pitching change. Reliever Felipe De La Cruz allowed Contreras to score, making Gordon's line uglier.

Binghamton posted single runs in the fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth. Eli Serrano III hit a solo homer, his sixth of the year, in the fourth to get the Rumble Ponies on the board. He was on the back end of a double steal in the sixth as Marco Vargas swiped home. Paulino homered in the seventh and singled home Jamari Baylor in the ninth,

Vargas finished 3-for-5 to raise his Double-A slash line to .283/.365/.410 over 233 plate appearances.

Binghamton Batting

Player	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K
Marco Vargas, DH	5	1	3	0	0	0
Jacob Reimer, 3B	4	0	0	0	0	2
Eli Serrano III, RF	3	1	2	1	1	0
John Bay, CF	3	0	0	0	1	2
Corey Collins, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	1
Jamari Baylor, 2B	2	1	0	0	2	1
JT Benson, LF	4	0	1	0	0	2
Eddinson Paulino, SS	4	1	2	2	0	0
Vincent Perozo, C	2	0	0	0	0	1
Chris Suero, C	2	0	0	0	0	2
Totals	33	4	8	3	4	11

Binghamton Pitching

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR
R.J. Gordon (L, 5-9)	1 2/3	4	6	6	3	0	1
Felipe De La Cruz	1 1/3	1	1	1	2	0	1
Cionel Pérez	1	0	0	0	0	1	0
Cristofer Gomez	1	1	1	1	1	2	1
Luis R. Rodriguez	1	1	0	0	1	1	0
Carlos Guzman	2	2	0	0	1	4	0
Totals	8	9	8	8	8	8	3

Top-20 Prospect Performance

1. Jonah Tong: DNP
2. Jack Wenninger: DNP
3. Elian Pena: DNP
4. Mitch Voit: DNP
5. Ryan Clifford: DNP
6. Nick Morabito: MLB
7. Jonathan Santucci: DNP
8. Carson Wiggins: DNP
9. Jacob Reimer: 0-for-4, 2 K
10. Aiden Robbins: DNP
11. Randy Guzman: DNP
12. Wandy Asigen: DNP
13. Chris Suero: 0-for-2, 2 K
14. Jefferson Rojas: DNP
15. Will Watson: DNP
16. Shane Sdao: DNP
17. Eli Serrano III: 2-for-3, 2B, HR, BB
18. Antonio Jimenez: DNP
19. Emilien Pitre: DNP
20. Dylan Ross: DNP

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