Mervyl Melendez

From BR Bullpen

Mervyl Melendez

Biographical Information[edit]

Mervyl Melendez has coached college baseball for over two decades (as of 2022).

Melendez was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Florida at age 13. At Bethune-Cookman College, he hit .342 with a school-record 30 doubles. He also pitched in relief. He was named to the Black College All-America Team in 1996. He was assistant coach at Bethune-Cookman from 1997-1999 then became head coach. In his first 11 years, he won 10 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference titles. He has won the MEAC Coach of the Year (2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010) and Black College Baseball Coach of the Year several times. He helped develop major leaguer Mark Woodyard as well as Team Canada outfielder Sébastien Boucher.

From 2012 to 2016 he was head coach of Alabama State University, taking the school to the NCAA tournament in 2016, the first ever appearance for Alabama State. He then returned to Florida in 2017 as head coach at Florida International University. He stepped down following the 2022 season, when the team went 16-34, its lowest win total ever (not counting the 2020 season which was cut short by the Coronavirus pandemic).

His son MJ Melendez reached the majors in 2022; another son, Jayden Melendez, played for him at Florida International University.

Further Reading[edit]

  • Walter Villa (Miami Herald): "FIU baseball coach Melendez steps down after program’s worst season in over a decade", Yahoo! News, May 26, 2022. [1]

Related Sites[edit]