MJ MELENDEZ NAMED DOUBLE-A CENTRAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR THIRD TIME IN FOUR WEEKS

The Naturals catcher has been honored for his performance the week of July 19th through July 25th

MJ Melendez becomes just the second Natural to win the Player of the Week award three times in a season. (Tim Campbell)

By Naturals PR Department

July 26, 2021

SPRINGDALE, Ark – Minor League Baseball announced the Pitcher and Player of the Week honors for each of the respective Player Development Leagues and Naturals’ catcher MJ Melendez was named the Double-A Central Player of the Week honor for his performance the week of July 19th through July 25th. This

SPRINGDALE, Ark – Minor League Baseball announced the Pitcher and Player of the Week honors for each of the respective Player Development Leagues and Naturals’ catcher MJ Melendez was named the Double-A Central Player of the Week honor for his performance the week of July 19th through July 25th.

This is the third time in the last four weeks Melendez has claimed the award and the second straight week he’s been recognized. Melendez was also named the league’s Player of the Week last week (July 12th though July 18th) and for the week of June 28th through July 4th. It is the fifth time a Naturals player has received a weekly award, after Alec Marsh was recognized as Pitcher of the Week for the week of May 4th through May 9th and Marcelo Martinez won the honor for his performance the week of May 31st through June 6th.

The Miami, Florida native hit .400 (10-for-25) during his award-winning week, leading the league with four home runs, eight runs batted in and 24 total bases. His seven runs scored were tied for the most while his 1.367 OPS ranked second, and he was one of just three players in the league with 10 or more hits. Most notably, he connected on two home runs in a 3-for-4 effort on Saturday, July 24th, in a 7-2 win for the Naturals over Tulsa.

So far this season, Melendez has played in a team-best 67 games, hitting .290 (7-for-255) with a Double-A-best 23 home runs (2nd in Minor League Baseball) and 58 runs batted in. He also leads all of Double-A with a .620 slugging percentage and 158 total bases, which ranks fifth in all of Minor League Baseball.

It is the 35th time in franchise history that a Naturals’ player has won the Player of the Week award, the last being when Melendez won the award last week. Melendez is the first player to win a Double-A Central three times this season and just the second Natural in franchise history to take home a weekly award three times in one season, after Clint Robinson was honored three times in 2010 (July 5, August 9, August 30).

Noah Bremer of the Frisco RoughRiders (Double-A, Texas Rangers) was the Double-A Central’s Pitcher of the Week after going 2-0 across two scoreless relief appearances against the Amarillo Sod Poodles. Bremer threw 6.2 innings without allowing a run while striking out seven and not walking a batter, earning wins in both of his appearances