Royals Reportedly Drawing Trade Interest in MJ Melendez

With the MLB offseason comes a multitude of rumors and reports centered around trades, and the Kansas City Royals are no different despite coming off an underwhelming 2022 campaign.

This year's winter meetings begin on Sunday, which presents an opportunity for clubs to talk amongst themselves about a variety of topics. One of those is the trade market for certain players. Kansas City, a team flush with youth but also a club that is lacking in proven talent and starting pitching, has generated a bit of buzz as of late. 

For The Athletic, senior writer Ken Rosenthal recently published a piece diving into some of the things he's been hearing this offseason. The topic of the Royals first came up with respect to catcher Salvador Perez, but it appears that another Kansas City backstop is also a notable name now that the season is firmly in the rearview mirror. Per Rosenthal, catcher/outfielder MJ Melendez is drawing trade interest. 

As a player with at least 10 years of service, five with the same club, Perez would have the right to veto any trade. Teams are not even bothering to ask the Royals about him, major-league sources say. Catcher MJ Melendez is drawing interest, but he hit 18 home runs as a rookie, also plays left and right field, and is under club control for five more seasons. The Royals probably are not inclined to move him, either.

"Drawing interest" can mean a number of things, as it could be as simple as one team executive inquiring about Melendez and the Royals immediately hanging up the phone. Rosenthal doesn't indicate how many — or whether any — clubs have officially attempted to test the waters for a potential Melendez trade. From that perspective, there may never be any legs to the rumor. It does make sense that someone is intrigued by the idea of adding Melendez to their lineup, though.

Having turned just 24 years old near the end of November, Melendez has the ideal combination of youth, athleticism and club control that teams throughout the sport typically covet. On top of that, while he hit just .217 in his rookie year, the former second-round draft pick walked a healthy 12.4% of the time and hit 18 home runs and 21 doubles in 129 games this past season. Melendez's 99 wRC+ leaves plenty of room for improvement, but it also could serve as a relatively safe floor for his production. It's expected that he only improves from here on out.

Melendez is oozing with potential in the batter's box, as evidenced by a quick look at his Baseball Savant page. Additionally, the possibility of an automated strike zone in the near future takes some of the edge off of his defensive profile. Melendez has the frame, arm strength and athletic ability to stick behind the plate but could also find a home in a corner outfield spot if a team commits to sticking him there. He needs to make his largest strides moving forward as a defender.

As Rosenthal notes, the Royals likely aren't interested in trading Melendez. Outside of Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino, he was pretty easily the team's most impressive rookie in 2022 and could be a franchise cornerstone if things break right. Barring an extremely impressive offer from an opposing team, there isn't a good deal of incentive to move him. With MLB's 'Hot Stove' season heating up, however, this report is at least worth keeping track of. 

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