Austin Meadows Gained Experience Despite Injuries

Outfielder Austin Meadows seemed like a strong candidate to make his big league debut in 2017—if the opportunity arised.

There ended up being plenty of opportunity. Starling Marte was suspended 80 games thanks to a positive test for the steroid Nandrolone, and Gregory Polanco played in just 108 games because of multiple hamstring injuries.

Thanks to his own slow start and injuries, however, the 22-year-old Meadows never was ready to make the leap.

He struggled at the plate in April and early May, then strained his right hamstring in late June and didn’t make it back to Triple-A Indianapolis until mid-August. He then strained his oblique on Sept. 1 to end his season.

Meadows played just 81 games all season and watched lower-ranked prospects Jose Osuna, Jordan Luplow and others take advantage of the available major league playing time.

Still, the Pirates don’t view Meadows’ season as a complete loss. He got another 284 at-bats at the Triple-A level, making evident improvement as the season progressed. His average dipped to .189 on May 6, but he slashed .300/.358/.445 in May, hit .267 in August and finished 250/.311/.359 for the year.

“I think he ended up with a half-season of upper level at-bats, and that shouldn’t be discounted,” farm director Larry Broadway said. “He had a slow start, but he was able to to work on some things and started to get on the upswing . . . I think he shaped up his (strike) zone a little bit and became a little more disciplined.”

Meadows’ injuries clearly altered the timetable for his debut. Thanks to the oblique strain, he didn’t play in instructional league and won’t play winter league ball, either, which makes a return to Indianapolis probable for the 2013 first-round pick out of high school in Georgia.

Still, Meadows will be just 23 in May, so the Pirates aren’t panicked.

“It didn’t change anything for us,” Broadway said. “When he’s ready, he’s going to be in Pittsburgh.”