Ivan Melendez named D1 Baseball Player of the Year

IMG_0985by:Griffin McVeigh•06/27/22•

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Ole Miss wrapped up the college baseball season on Monday, defeating Oklahoma to win the national championship. To put a bow on another fantastic year on the diamond, D1 Baseball was handing out end-of-season awards, with Texas first baseman Ivan Melendez being named the Player of the Year.

“Texas slugger Ivan Melendez is the 2022 D1Baseball Player of the Year, headlining the D1Baseball All-America teams,” D1 Baseball said on the decision. “Melendez lead the nation with 32 home runs, the most by any player since the BBCOR bat standards were imposed in 2011.

“He also leads all of Division I with 90 RBIs and an .863 slugging percentage, and ranks second in OPS (1.387) behind Davidson catcher Michael Carico, a second-team All-American. And Melendez helped lead Texas back to the College World Series with a big three-run homer in the decisive game of the Greenville Super Regional.”

There has been a movement within the Texas fanbase to retire Melendez’s number 17 for everything he has done for the baseball program. Despite only being in Austin for two seasons, the slugger instantly became a fan favorite for his insane hitting numbers and helping the Longhorns reach the College World Series on two different occasions.

Melendez could have easily left to pursue his professional career after the 2021 season, being drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 16th round. Instead, he decided to once again put on a Texas uniform and put up a season worthy of being named the D1 Baseball Player of the Year.

Home runs were the specialty of Melendez, nicknamed the “Hispanic Titanic.” As D1 Baseball mentioned, he hit the most home runs in the BBCOR era with 32. He broke the record of current Colorado Rockies star Kris Bryant, being the only two to grab at least 30 in a season.

Melendez was also able to lock down the Golden Spikes Award, given to amateur baseball’s best player. Despite having one of the most storied programs in the history of college baseball, Texas has never had a player win the award. Making history in Austin is what Melendez has done over his two years and winning the Golden Spikes was just the latest example.