Q & A: Athletics second baseman Kevin Melillo
Kevin Melillo has seen a lot in his baseball career, from being Rickie Weeks' prep teammate at suburuban Orlando's Lake Brantley High, to playing on three College World Series teams at South Carolina, to playing on three minor league teams in his first full pro season last year with the Athletics.
Melillo is back with Double-A Midland to begin 2006 and has picked up where he left off last year, when he hit .282/.347/.519 with the RockHounds. He registered six hits in seven trips Sunday during Midland's 20-10 victory against Corpus Christi, had four straight multi-hit games (a streak that apparently was jinxed Monday by this interview as he went 0-for-3) and was hitting .400 on the young season.
We caught up with Melillo to reminisce about his college days while getting the low-down on his breakout 2005 season, some news on teammate Steve Stanley and Melillo's defense.
Baseball America: Softball first . . . six hits in a game, that had to be pretty fun. Is that an all-time high for you?
Kevin Melillo: Yeah, it was. I can remember getting four hits once. I don't ever think I've had five hits--not in high school, college, definitely pro ball. I don't think I ever had a four-hit game until I got to (high A) Stockton last year. I remember being 3-for-3 so many times, and I could never get that fourth hit. Then yesterday, I got that fourth hit, and then I kept getting at-bats. (Editor's note: Melillo got his fourth and fifth hits in Midland's seven-run seventh.) In a 20-10 game, you're not going up there looking for a walk--you're going to go up there and get your swings.
And with replacement umpires, you really kind of have to do that. It's not the Oakland way, but you can't wait up there and work counts when you don't know where the strike zone is going to be.
BA: So the replacement umpires have altered that philosophy a bit? Though it sounds like the main part of the philosophy is to be an intelligent hitter, not just to draw walks.
KM: That's exactly it, really. The umpires are doing their best, but they are just a little inconsistent right now. I know a 3-2 pitch that is a ball one day can be a strike the next. There's no use arguing with them so you have to adjust a little bit. If the first pitch you see is the best pitch you're going to get, you have to be ready to swing at it. It's still about knowing the strike zone and adjusting.
BA: Your Midland team is like a college all-star team from the early 2000s. Shawn Kohn from Washington, Brad Ziegler from Southwest Missouri State, Connor Robertson from Birmingham-Southern, and then the lineup--Kurt Suzuki from Cal State Fullerton, Brian Snyder from Stetson, Vasili Spanos from Indiana, Jason Perry from Georgia Tech, Danny Putnam from Stanford and you from South Carolina. It had to be a fun clubhouse during the NCAA tournament in March and I'm sure it will be in June during the College World Series.
KM: Oh, man, March Madness was a ton of fun around these guys, and when June rolls around, we're all going back and forth about the College World Series. Suzuki and I already are checking your website, and when you had Fullerton ranked first and the Gamecocks ranked second, we were going back and forth about it pretty good. There's a camaraderie that we have because so many of us have played college ball and experienced a lot of the same things before.
BA: Definitely sounds like a lot of shared experiences. Are there ever any lingering rivalries because of it? Like having Justin Crowder from Rice and Steve Stanley from Notre Dame--Stanley hit that triple off him in 2002 in Omaha to start that rally . . .
KM: I remember that--and Brian Stavisky hit the homer off Crowder to win the game, and he's in Triple-A with us now. And Steve Stanley actually just retired today, which is too bad because he's a fun guy to watch play. (Midland lefty Matt Lynch also retired recently.) But you know, all the guys have put that stuff behind them; I know that when we played Fullerton in 2004, we didn't like Jason Windsor, and our dugout went at it with him real good, but we're teammates now and we can just laugh about it.
BA: Getting back to you a bit . . . You had such a successful season last year. Did you exceed your own expectations, and what do you do for an encore?
KM: I definitely exceeded expectations. My main goal was to stay healthy and work as hard as I could to tay healthy and play the whole season. I just wanted to be out there to compete and battle and put myself in position to be a prospect, and it worked out well. I went 20-20 (home runs and steals), I had a 30-game hitting streak, and the whole season did wonders for my confidence. You always hear that the jump to Double-A is the biggest one for a hitter, so coming here last year and hitting seven homers in 100-some at-bats (actually 131) was huge.
BA: You mentioned a 30-game hitting streak. I think we missed that. Was that in July in the Cal League (where Melillo hit .400 in 90 at-bats)?
KM: It started in low A and then at Stockton I hit in my first 18 games. July was the hottest I've ever been (.400-9-23 in 90 at-bats). I honestly felt locked in, all those cliches. I was using the whole field and just seemed to hit it hard every time.
As a hitter, you know you have a streak at four or five games. I wouldn't look back to see how long it was out of superstition, but other guys came up to me when I hit 30 and told me in the dugout, congratulated me. That was pretty great. I knew I was getting up there but wasn't sure.
BA: So you've always been labeled as a good hitter, an "offensive second baseman," and then comes the "but," about your defense. Does that get old, and how would you describe your defense?
KM: Honestly, sometimes it's just fuel for the fire; I guess sometimes people need something to pick on. The last four months of last year and this year, I feel like I've really improved. Juan Navarette is our infield instructor, and he's got me on a routine that I think has been helping me in all aspects. When Juan is here, you see your name on the board for early work with Juan, and with some guys you might groan, but when you see his name, it's like, 'Hell yeah. I'm going to get better today.' He's a great coach.
I've worked really hard. I feel like I've made tremendous strikes, and I know that's what it will take to make it to the big leagues.
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PrintKevin Melillo has seen a lot in his baseball career, from being Rickie Weeks' prep teammate at suburuban Orlando's Lake Brantley High, to playing on three College World Series teams at South Carolina, to playing on three minor league teams in his first full pro season last year with the Athletics.
Melillo is back with Double-A Midland to begin 2006 and has picked up where he left off last year, when he hit .282/.347/.519 with the RockHounds. He registered six hits in seven trips Sunday during Midland's 20-10 victory against Corpus Christi, had four straight multi-hit games (a streak that apparently was jinxed Monday by this interview as he went 0-for-3) and was hitting .400 on the young season.
We caught up with Melillo to reminisce about his college days while getting the low-down on his breakout 2005 season, some news on teammate Steve Stanley and Melillo's defense.
Baseball America: Softball first . . . six hits in a game, that had to be pretty fun. Is that an all-time high for you?
Kevin Melillo: Yeah, it was. I can remember getting four hits once. I don't ever think I've had five hits--not in high school, college, definitely pro ball. I don't think I ever had a four-hit game until I got to (high A) Stockton last year. I remember being 3-for-3 so many times, and I could never get that fourth hit. Then yesterday, I got that fourth hit, and then I kept getting at-bats. (Editor's note: Melillo got his fourth and fifth hits in Midland's seven-run seventh.) In a 20-10 game, you're not going up there looking for a walk--you're going to go up there and get your swings.
And with replacement umpires, you really kind of have to do that. It's not the Oakland way, but you can't wait up there and work counts when you don't know where the strike zone is going to be.
BA: So the replacement umpires have altered that philosophy a bit? Though it sounds like the main part of the philosophy is to be an intelligent hitter, not just to draw walks.
KM: That's exactly it, really. The umpires are doing their best, but they are just a little inconsistent right now. I know a 3-2 pitch that is a ball one day can be a strike the next. There's no use arguing with them so you have to adjust a little bit. If the first pitch you see is the best pitch you're going to get, you have to be ready to swing at it. It's still about knowing the strike zone and adjusting.
BA: Your Midland team is like a college all-star team from the early 2000s. Shawn Kohn from Washington, Brad Ziegler from Southwest Missouri State, Connor Robertson from Birmingham-Southern, and then the lineup--Kurt Suzuki from Cal State Fullerton, Brian Snyder from Stetson, Vasili Spanos from Indiana, Jason Perry from Georgia Tech, Danny Putnam from Stanford and you from South Carolina. It had to be a fun clubhouse during the NCAA tournament in March and I'm sure it will be in June during the College World Series.
KM: Oh, man, March Madness was a ton of fun around these guys, and when June rolls around, we're all going back and forth about the College World Series. Suzuki and I already are checking your website, and when you had Fullerton ranked first and the Gamecocks ranked second, we were going back and forth about it pretty good. There's a camaraderie that we have because so many of us have played college ball and experienced a lot of the same things before.
BA: Definitely sounds like a lot of shared experiences. Are there ever any lingering rivalries because of it? Like having Justin Crowder from Rice and Steve Stanley from Notre Dame--Stanley hit that triple off him in 2002 in Omaha to start that rally . . .
KM: I remember that--and Brian Stavisky hit the homer off Crowder to win the game, and he's in Triple-A with us now. And Steve Stanley actually just retired today, which is too bad because he's a fun guy to watch play. (Midland lefty Matt Lynch also retired recently.) But you know, all the guys have put that stuff behind them; I know that when we played Fullerton in 2004, we didn't like Jason Windsor, and our dugout went at it with him real good, but we're teammates now and we can just laugh about it.
BA: Getting back to you a bit . . . You had such a successful season last year. Did you exceed your own expectations, and what do you do for an encore?
KM: I definitely exceeded expectations. My main goal was to stay healthy and work as hard as I could to tay healthy and play the whole season. I just wanted to be out there to compete and battle and put myself in position to be a prospect, and it worked out well. I went 20-20 (home runs and steals), I had a 30-game hitting streak, and the whole season did wonders for my confidence. You always hear that the jump to Double-A is the biggest one for a hitter, so coming here last year and hitting seven homers in 100-some at-bats (actually 131) was huge.
BA: You mentioned a 30-game hitting streak. I think we missed that. Was that in July in the Cal League (where Melillo hit .400 in 90 at-bats)?
KM: It started in low A and then at Stockton I hit in my first 18 games. July was the hottest I've ever been (.400-9-23 in 90 at-bats). I honestly felt locked in, all those cliches. I was using the whole field and just seemed to hit it hard every time.
As a hitter, you know you have a streak at four or five games. I wouldn't look back to see how long it was out of superstition, but other guys came up to me when I hit 30 and told me in the dugout, congratulated me. That was pretty great. I knew I was getting up there but wasn't sure.
BA: So you've always been labeled as a good hitter, an "offensive second baseman," and then comes the "but," about your defense. Does that get old, and how would you describe your defense?
KM: Honestly, sometimes it's just fuel for the fire; I guess sometimes people need something to pick on. The last four months of last year and this year, I feel like I've really improved. Juan Navarette is our infield instructor, and he's got me on a routine that I think has been helping me in all aspects. When Juan is here, you see your name on the board for early work with Juan, and with some guys you might groan, but when you see his name, it's like, 'Hell yeah. I'm going to get better today.' He's a great coach.
I've worked really hard. I feel like I've made tremendous strikes, and I know that's what it will take to make it to the big leagues.
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