The FIU Panthers signed 10 baseball recruits, including coach Mervyl Melendez’s son

FIU’s baseball team recently signed 10 recruits, including coach Mervyl Melendez’s son Jayden, a highly ranked catcher at Westminster Christian.

Jayden Melendez, a 5-9, 170-pounder, was selected to play in the Perfect Game All-American Classic and was praised by the PG website as having “very good [agility] behind the plate, quick hands on the exchange and a strong, accurate arm.”

A right-handed hitter, Melendez sprays the ball around, gap to gap.

Catching runs in the Melendez family as his brother, MJ, was the Kansas City Royals’ second-round pick in 2017, never playing for FIU.

There’s more of a chance Jayden plays for FIU.

“I’m selfish — I want Jayden to get here,” FIU hitting coach and recruiting coordinator Dax Norris said. “He didn’t have the summer he wanted, but Jayden has the personality that guys love being around him.”

Mervyl Melendez said “the plan is for Jayden to go to school unless something happens” with the draft.

In case Jayden gets drafted and signs in June, FIU signed another catcher, New York City’s Matthew Gonzalez. Norris said Gonzalez lacks Melendez’s arm strength but still had interest from ACC schools.

FIU also signed two other hitters in this class: switch-hitting middle infielder Dalton Hurst, who is athletic enough to play the outfield; and third baseman Bryan Loriga, a Hialeah native who projects as an eventual middle-of-the-order slugger.

“With Dalton, we may not have recruited him after watching him once. But the more we saw him, the more we realized he can play,” Norris said. “With Bryan, we love him — very advanced hitter, hard-nosed player.”

Of the six pitchers FIU signed, one of them is a lefty: David Eckaus.

“He could get lefties out if used out of the bullpen,” FIU pitching coach Willie Collazo said. “He can throw his slider on any count.”

FIU also signed five right-handers: American Heritage’s Juhlien Gonzalez, who also plays third base but hasn’t pitched since 2019 because of elbow surgery, according to Collazo; Jose Pena, who has been clocked at 94 mph and could eventually be a weekend starter; Westminster Christian’s Joel Pineiro, who is the son of a former major-leaguer of the same name; Iowa-based Owen Puk, who is the brother of major-league pitcher A.J. Puk; and Justin Rodriguez, a New Yorker whose fastball hits 93 mph.

According to a scout, Pena and Pineiro are FIU’s top prospects in this class, and Collazo essentially agreed with that assessment.

“Pena is the most advanced [of our pitching recruits],” Collazo said. “Pineiro can pitch. His arm strength is not there yet, but it will come, and he has a good curve.”

Collazo said he played with Pineiro Sr. in 2006 when both of them represented their native Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic. Pineiro went 104-93 in 12 years as a major-league starter from 2000 to 2011.

“He had a great feel for pitching,” Collazo said, “and I think his son is the same. It’s in the genes.”

Collazo said Rodriguez, a 6-0, 150-pounder is a “skinny kid with an electric fastball”. Collazo compared his frame and arm action to former MLB star Pedro Martinez and predicts that Rodriguez’s velocity should rise from 90-92 to 95 once he gets stronger.

Puk, a 6-4, 180-pounder, has projectable size once he fills out. Collazo said Puk will make a jump once he gets to Miami, where he can play baseball year-round.

“In Iowa, he can only play three months out of the year,” Collazo said

Overall, this was FIU’s smallest class since 2015, and that’s because the NCAA granted an extra year to all players due to the pandemic. Thus, more veterans are returning, and there’s less room for rookies.

“We were more selective,” Norris said. “There were a few pitchers we were on fence about, and that made it easier to back off those guys.”