I found this to be an enjoyable read, quite the glowing article, well deserved for Melendez. hook'em!
Chicks used to dig the long ball, the marketing slogan went.
Ivan Melendez clearly still does. So does David Pierce, for that matter, as the Longhorns head coach for the top-ranked Texas baseball team witnessed an explosion of power Sunday from his first baseman that few others in college baseball can match. Maybe no others.
Melendez went yard on Sunday. Twice. The whole yard. And beyond.
The redshirt junior, otherwise known as the Hispanic Titanic — cue the Celine Dion soundtrack to the movie as was played out on the stadium PA during his two home run trots — just went absolutely crazy. He smashed a pair of threerun homers, including one that cleared the 28-foot-high Green Monster in the
deepest part of the stadium to give him props as the first Longhorn ever to eclipse it three times.
Other UT greats like Kyle Russell and Drew Stubbs and Jeff Ontiveros have done it twice, but Melendez’s bat work Sunday set him apart. He hit two such jaw-droppers against Kansas State a year ago, not counting the one he hit that collided with the top of the scoreboard that sits maybe 50 feet high.
His legend grows. So do the lengths of his home runs.
The first one Sunday traveled an estimated 451 feet, and then he almost topped it by crushing another one between the batter’s eye and the scoreboard that carried 447 feet. Clearly, the man was tiring, the longer the game went. Had he come up again, I’m fairly certain he’d have been lucky to hit one even 430 feet.
Actually, he did come up again in the 14-2 Longhorns win that completed a three-game sweep of Rice at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
This was simply one of the most powerful displays these eyes have ever seen at this grand ballpark that opened in 1975 when not incidentally Texas won a national championship, something it has in clear sight this season.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said shortstop Trey Faltine, who had a garden- variety solo homer of his own on Sunday. “I’m front row (of the dugout) when Ivan walks up. I’m locked in. He’s a special talent. He’s just super strong. I wish I was half that strong.”
As it were, Melendez’s personal power exhibition for six RBIs stood out as the main takeaway in as convincing a three-game sweep by the Longhorns as they’ve ever had, outscoring Rice 36-3. I can’t explain how the Owls got three.
However, it must be said these aren’t Wayne Graham’s Owls, but Jose Cruz Jr.’s new, downsized Owls, who bear no resemblance to those teams that Graham and pitching aide David Pierce coached to a College World Series title in 2003.
The Longhorns trailed for all of a half inning in the three games, that a 1-0 deficit on the strength of Austin Bulman’s solo homer in the first off Tanner Witt, who was making his debut as a starter Sunday and threw very well over five innings.
Thereafter, a sea of bases-loaded walks and 13 hits led to yet another rout of the overmatched Owls, who were picked eighth in the 12-team Conference USA without a single selection to the league’s preseason all-conference team.
“No one comes to mind right now off the top of my head that his swing reminds me of,” Cruz said. “But he definitely is a big guy who commands respect when he comes to the plate. The two shots he hit today were spectacular — big-man distance is what I would call it. He’s definitely someone you’ll have to pay a lot of attention to when you are facing Texas.”
The designated hitter-turned-first baseman hit the ground running last year in his first season as the transfer from Odessa College walloped a teamhigh 13 homers and has now picked up where he left off.
In fact, considering how this spacious ballpark has trouble containing Melendez’s prodigious power, he may well put his name among the most elite power hitters ever to wear a Longhorns uniform.
He could well crack the top 10 at the school for home runs in a season, needing 15 more to pass Mark Cridland for 10th place, and could set his sights on topping outfielder Kyle Russell’s 28 set in 2007. It may be difficult to get within range of Russell’s 57 as the career record- holder or imposing sluggers like Jeff Ontiveros (55) and Brooks Kieschnick (43), who flexed their muscles at Texas for three or four years.
But for sheer power, Melendez belongs in the club.
“I’ve seen three balls hit over that wall in my life, but none of them were hit the way he did,” said Texas broadcaster Keith Moreland, a former UT All-American with plenty of power himself. “The second one might have gone farther than the first. I was here for Kyle Russell and all his (school-record 57) homers, but he didn’t hit his with the shock and awe like this guy.”
Echoed wide-eyed broadcast partner and Texas pitching superstar Greg Swindell, “He hits them, and we just look at each other and go ooh.”
The college slugger who remains the gold standard for me remains Pete Incaviglia, the Oklahoma State masher who just bludgeoned home run balls and was so intimidating he once was heckled by the Texas bench and challenged the entire team to a fight. He had a college-best 100 homers in 213 college games, including an NCAA-record 48 as a junior.
I’ve seen power guys like Will Clark and Barry Bonds hit mammoth shots, and Melendez might be in their neighborhood for sheer strength. The Miami Marlins should have seen it after drafting him in the 16th round last year, but they were cash-strapped and Melendez had already decided to return to school to play in the field and enhance his value.
The strength will still be there this spring.
It’s all in the hips, he swears. “Loose muscles react faster than tight muscles,” Melendez said with an over-simplification of the source of his power.
Quick wrists are essential, too, not to mention thunderous thighs, to help him drive through a baseball. And to hone it, he buries himself in tape study of his favorites from Pete Goldschmidt to Alex Rodriguez to Albert Pujols.
“I’m not comparing myself to them,” he humbly reminded, “but I’m built like they are.”
Melendez has been hitting deep flies for a long time. He clobbered 17 of them as a freshman for Odessa, and his 13 last year as Texas’ primary DH led the team, a club that had significant pop with 68 homers. Of the four with double-digit dingers, three are gone, leaving only Melendez.
But he swears he feels no pressure, either at the plate or trying to replace gifted first baseman Zach Zubia from last year’s CWS semifinalists. He was hitless in his first seven at-bats against Rice, but broke out of the mini-slump in a big way.
“I hear it, but I try to ignore all the comments,” said Melendez, who is already showing the footwork and glove handiwork to comfort the coaching staff.
“I don’t see it as competition between me and Zach. Yesterday I had a rough day. Hitting is a hard thing. If I was being honest, I was just trying to make contact.”
He made contact Sunday all right, putting on as spectacular a show as many have ever seen.
But did he recover any of the historic baseballs he pounded into the February sky?
“No, but a kid told me in the on-deck circle he got ‘em,” Melendez said.
Those would make some very nice souvenirs, but the Longhorn said he’s welcome to them.
“They’re all his,” Melendez said. “I’ve got a bucket of Big 12 baseballs.”
But the way he keeps hitting them out of sight, we’re going to need a whole lot more.
Melendez among Horns’ best sluggers
Chicks used to dig the long ball, the marketing slogan went.
Ivan Melendez clearly still does. So does David Pierce, for that matter, as the Longhorns head coach for the top-ranked Texas baseball team witnessed an explosion of power Sunday from his first baseman that few others in college baseball can match. Maybe no others.
Melendez went yard on Sunday. Twice. The whole yard. And beyond.
The redshirt junior, otherwise known as the Hispanic Titanic — cue the Celine Dion soundtrack to the movie as was played out on the stadium PA during his two home run trots — just went absolutely crazy. He smashed a pair of threerun homers, including one that cleared the 28-foot-high Green Monster in the
deepest part of the stadium to give him props as the first Longhorn ever to eclipse it three times.
Other UT greats like Kyle Russell and Drew Stubbs and Jeff Ontiveros have done it twice, but Melendez’s bat work Sunday set him apart. He hit two such jaw-droppers against Kansas State a year ago, not counting the one he hit that collided with the top of the scoreboard that sits maybe 50 feet high.
His legend grows. So do the lengths of his home runs.
The first one Sunday traveled an estimated 451 feet, and then he almost topped it by crushing another one between the batter’s eye and the scoreboard that carried 447 feet. Clearly, the man was tiring, the longer the game went. Had he come up again, I’m fairly certain he’d have been lucky to hit one even 430 feet.
Actually, he did come up again in the 14-2 Longhorns win that completed a three-game sweep of Rice at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
This was simply one of the most powerful displays these eyes have ever seen at this grand ballpark that opened in 1975 when not incidentally Texas won a national championship, something it has in clear sight this season.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said shortstop Trey Faltine, who had a garden- variety solo homer of his own on Sunday. “I’m front row (of the dugout) when Ivan walks up. I’m locked in. He’s a special talent. He’s just super strong. I wish I was half that strong.”
As it were, Melendez’s personal power exhibition for six RBIs stood out as the main takeaway in as convincing a three-game sweep by the Longhorns as they’ve ever had, outscoring Rice 36-3. I can’t explain how the Owls got three.
However, it must be said these aren’t Wayne Graham’s Owls, but Jose Cruz Jr.’s new, downsized Owls, who bear no resemblance to those teams that Graham and pitching aide David Pierce coached to a College World Series title in 2003.
The Longhorns trailed for all of a half inning in the three games, that a 1-0 deficit on the strength of Austin Bulman’s solo homer in the first off Tanner Witt, who was making his debut as a starter Sunday and threw very well over five innings.
Thereafter, a sea of bases-loaded walks and 13 hits led to yet another rout of the overmatched Owls, who were picked eighth in the 12-team Conference USA without a single selection to the league’s preseason all-conference team.
“No one comes to mind right now off the top of my head that his swing reminds me of,” Cruz said. “But he definitely is a big guy who commands respect when he comes to the plate. The two shots he hit today were spectacular — big-man distance is what I would call it. He’s definitely someone you’ll have to pay a lot of attention to when you are facing Texas.”
The designated hitter-turned-first baseman hit the ground running last year in his first season as the transfer from Odessa College walloped a teamhigh 13 homers and has now picked up where he left off.
In fact, considering how this spacious ballpark has trouble containing Melendez’s prodigious power, he may well put his name among the most elite power hitters ever to wear a Longhorns uniform.
He could well crack the top 10 at the school for home runs in a season, needing 15 more to pass Mark Cridland for 10th place, and could set his sights on topping outfielder Kyle Russell’s 28 set in 2007. It may be difficult to get within range of Russell’s 57 as the career record- holder or imposing sluggers like Jeff Ontiveros (55) and Brooks Kieschnick (43), who flexed their muscles at Texas for three or four years.
But for sheer power, Melendez belongs in the club.
“I’ve seen three balls hit over that wall in my life, but none of them were hit the way he did,” said Texas broadcaster Keith Moreland, a former UT All-American with plenty of power himself. “The second one might have gone farther than the first. I was here for Kyle Russell and all his (school-record 57) homers, but he didn’t hit his with the shock and awe like this guy.”
Echoed wide-eyed broadcast partner and Texas pitching superstar Greg Swindell, “He hits them, and we just look at each other and go ooh.”
The college slugger who remains the gold standard for me remains Pete Incaviglia, the Oklahoma State masher who just bludgeoned home run balls and was so intimidating he once was heckled by the Texas bench and challenged the entire team to a fight. He had a college-best 100 homers in 213 college games, including an NCAA-record 48 as a junior.
I’ve seen power guys like Will Clark and Barry Bonds hit mammoth shots, and Melendez might be in their neighborhood for sheer strength. The Miami Marlins should have seen it after drafting him in the 16th round last year, but they were cash-strapped and Melendez had already decided to return to school to play in the field and enhance his value.
The strength will still be there this spring.
It’s all in the hips, he swears. “Loose muscles react faster than tight muscles,” Melendez said with an over-simplification of the source of his power.
Quick wrists are essential, too, not to mention thunderous thighs, to help him drive through a baseball. And to hone it, he buries himself in tape study of his favorites from Pete Goldschmidt to Alex Rodriguez to Albert Pujols.
“I’m not comparing myself to them,” he humbly reminded, “but I’m built like they are.”
Melendez has been hitting deep flies for a long time. He clobbered 17 of them as a freshman for Odessa, and his 13 last year as Texas’ primary DH led the team, a club that had significant pop with 68 homers. Of the four with double-digit dingers, three are gone, leaving only Melendez.
But he swears he feels no pressure, either at the plate or trying to replace gifted first baseman Zach Zubia from last year’s CWS semifinalists. He was hitless in his first seven at-bats against Rice, but broke out of the mini-slump in a big way.
“I hear it, but I try to ignore all the comments,” said Melendez, who is already showing the footwork and glove handiwork to comfort the coaching staff.
“I don’t see it as competition between me and Zach. Yesterday I had a rough day. Hitting is a hard thing. If I was being honest, I was just trying to make contact.”
He made contact Sunday all right, putting on as spectacular a show as many have ever seen.
But did he recover any of the historic baseballs he pounded into the February sky?
“No, but a kid told me in the on-deck circle he got ‘em,” Melendez said.
Those would make some very nice souvenirs, but the Longhorn said he’s welcome to them.
“They’re all his,” Melendez said. “I’ve got a bucket of Big 12 baseballs.”
But the way he keeps hitting them out of sight, we’re going to need a whole lot more.
Melendez among Horns’ best sluggers
Melendez among Horns’ best sluggers
Chicks used to dig the long ball, the marketing slogan went. Ivan Me
statesman-tx-app.newsmemory.com
