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The Kansas City Royals have a quandary that the Colorado Rockies could alleviate
Realistically, the Colorado Rockies do not need a starting catcher. After all, they don’t think they do either since they extended Elias Díaz to a three-year deal this offseason. However, the Rockies don’t have a clear-cut backup catcher since Dom Nuñez struggled, especially in the second half of the season.
The Royals, in a similar manner, have Salvador Perez as their starting catcher and they just extended him as the new four-year contract (plus a team option) starts this upcoming season. Perez, a seven-time All-Star, five-time Gold Glove winner, and four-time Silver Slugger winner, led the majors in both home runs (48) and RBI (121) in 2021 and he came in 7th in AL MVP voting.
But the Royals could have a problem.
The Royals #4 prospect (MLB.com’s #67 prospect) is catcher MJ Melendez (oddly enough, the Royals #2, #3, and #4 prospects are #65, #66, and #67 for MLB.com’s overall prospects) and Melendez is going to be in the majors in 2022.
Melendez, 23, split the season between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022 and he combined to have 41 homers, 103 RBI, and he had a slash line of .288/.386/.625. In Triple-A, he was actually better than he was in Double-A (1.033 OPS in Triple-A and .999 OPS in Double-A).