Titanic: Ivan Melendez wins the 2022 Dick Howser Trophy
OMAHA, Neb. — Near, far, wherever you are, know Texas first baseman Ivan Melendez has won the 2022 Dick Howser Trophy.
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Melendez, a redshirt junior from Odessa College via El Paso, Texas, becomes the fourth Longhorn to win the award given annually to the player of the year in college baseball. He joins Scott Bryant (1989), Brooks Kieschnick (1992, 1993), and Taylor Jungmann (2011) to win the honor established in 1987.
Melendez edged out Oregon State pitcher Cooper Hjerpe, Tennessee third baseman Trey Lipscomb, Georgia Tech catcher Kevin Parada, and Clemson third baseman Max Wagner for the honor. The National College Baseball Writers Association announced Melendez as the winner in Omaha, Neb. on Friday.
“It means everything just knowing I competed against some of the most prestigious players all over the nation, some of the best prospects,” Melendez said on MLB Network on Friday. “Just being able to compete with them every day and show off my tools, I’m just blessed to receive this award.”
During the 2022 season, his second at Texas, Melendez hit 32 home runs. That set both a Texas record and a BBCOR-era record, breaking marks set by Texas’ Kyle Russell in 2007 and San Diego’s Kris Bryant in 2013. Melendez was first-team All-Big 12, the Big 12 player of the year, and a first-team All-American as selected by the NCBWA.
Those are results that Texas head coach David Pierce would not have believed possible before the year.
“I never saw this coming,” Pierce said Thursday. “You started seeing signs of it once we got into the spring. His power is different. You have guys that have 5 o’clock power, and then the game starts at 6:30. He’s not a 5 o’clock guy, he’s a gamer. There are guys who have that power that doesn’t equate in the game, and he has game power. He has the knack of staying through the baseball as well as anybody.”
Melendez hit .396, has an on-base percentage of .516, and possesses an astronomical .888 slugging percentage. In addition to his 32 homers, he added 18 doubles and two triples to help bring his hit total to 95. He drove in 94 runs and has struck out 48 times while walking on 52 occasions.
“Probably the craziest thing is you see some people have a good week or two, but he’s had a good five months,” teammate Trey Faltine said Thursday. “That’s the craziest part, he’s just continuously doing it. You go to the ballpark every day, and he does something crazier than in the game before.”
Added Texas catcher Silas Ardoin: “He’s the greatest player in the country for a reason.”
After playing most of the 2021 season as the Longhorn designated hitter, Melendez took over as the full-time first baseman in 2022. There, he’s posted a .997 fielding percentage with only two errors on the season.
His season likely is one of the best, if not the best, by a right-handed hitter at Texas. Melendez didn’t just obliterate Texas home run records, he obliterated home run records at Texas with many of his dingers at pitcher-friendly UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
“This year, I just worked a little bit harder this offseason,” Melendez said. “I got to know how my body movements work, and I’m getting some pitches to hit in some really good hitters counts. I’m trying to do the most and try not to miss my pitch.”
He hit a few on the road, too, and those weren’t cheap ones. During the super regional in Greenville, N.C., Melendez hit a ball clear out of Clark-LeClair Stadium. That might not have been his longest homer in the Carolinas, as he crushed a ball just under 500 feet in an early-season game at South Carolina.
From several worthy candidates, Melendez was a near-obvious choice for the award. His exploits make him worthy of consideration for number retirement at Texas, an honor that requires a player to meet a lofty set of standards.
Melendez may have exceeded those during his 2022 season. The Dick Howser Trophy may be the best example of that… so far. He’s also a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the top amateur baseball player. Parada and Hjerpe may have something to say about that. His teammates don’t buy those arguments.
“How he carries himself, you’d never think he’s the home run leader, batting whatever he’s batting, and going to win the Golden Spikes, as he should,” Faltine said. “To see that and have him on our team is special.”
Whether Melendez adds more hardware or not, his season at Texas is one that will go down as one of the best in the history of the program. As the Howser Trophy shows, media members from around the country thought the same.
