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Morning Report: Austin Meadows Has Been on an Incredible Streak

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Austin Meadows has been on an incredible streak recently. As shown in the video highlight below, he tied the Altoona team record on Sunday with a 21-game hit streak. Even more impressive than the streak, he has collected 14 extra-base hits in June, doing it in 12 games. The streak of extra-base hits goes back into May as well.

In the last month (May 13-June 13) he has 11 doubles, eight triples and five home runs. During the entire 2015 season, only three players in the system reached all three of those marks. The triples are what sets it apart. Josh Bell, Alen Hanson and Keon Broxton were the three that reached those totals and everyone else fell short in at least one category. He basically did in one month, what only three players could do in an entire season.

Something that makes the streak more impressive is his age. In the last two seasons, he has one plate appearance against a pitcher younger than him. That would include any pitcher who was even a day younger, and it came early last year. He turned 21 in May and the average age of pitchers in the league is 24.6 years old.

Meadows got off to a slow start and he’s still ranked second in the Eastern League with a .957 OPS. Speaking of that slow start, Keith Law had an updated top 25 ranking back on May 24th and Meadows went from 16th place prior to the season, to somewhere outside the top 25 at that point. That was with some players graduating from the list.

I mentioned at the time that it was way too early to be doing an updated rankings because someone like Meadows could look a lot different two weeks from now (meaning back then). He looks a lot different from then, to the point I’m almost seeing daily comments about promoting him to Indianapolis. Between the sample size of success, which is still small, and the fact he’s already facing older pitchers on a daily basis, there really isn’t any need to rush him to Indianapolis.

Right now I don’t see him spending anything more than the last week of the season in Indianapolis, and that’s only if Altoona isn’t in the playoffs. There’s a chance that he won’t even see Pittsburgh next year due to the current setup in the outfield, but at the same time, he will be the first option during the second half of the season if there is an extended opening due to an injury. Then after 2017, the Pirates could have an interesting decision to make. It’s still the middle of the 2016 season and he’s still in Altoona, so a lot can change before then. Just look how much has changed with Meadows in the last month.

PLAYOFF PUSH

Bradenton is 6-4 in their last ten games. They are in first place in their division, three games ahead. The first half of the FSL season ends on June 22nd. Their magic number is four.

West Virginia has been eliminated from the first half pennant race. The second half begins on June 23rd.

PIRATES GAME GRAPH

The Pirates were off on Monday

TODAY’S SCHEDULE

Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pirates were off on Monday. They now travel to New York, where they will play a three-game series. They haven’t announced a starter for Tuesday’s game yet. The Mets will go with Jacob deGrom in the opener. He has a 2.80 ERA in 61 innings, with 56 strikeouts and a 1.15 WHIP. The Pirates faced him on June 7th and he allowed three runs on six hits, no walks and nine strikeouts in six innings.

In the minors, Jameson Taillon is scheduled to pitch for Indianapolis, but we have it as TBD because he may be making that start for the Pirates. He’s going to start somewhere today, we just don’t know where yet. Expect an update sometime today.

Tyler Eppler is coming off two solid starts, which followed his two worst outings of the season. He has gone six innings or more in nine of his 12 starts this year. Austin Coley allowed five runs over 4.2 innings in his last start. That broke a string of nine straight starts in which he went at least five innings and allowed three runs or less. Gage Hinsz makes his third start of the season. He threw five shutout innings in the opener, then followed that with five runs over 5.1 innings, though that second game included him retiring 14 batters in a row.

MLB: Pittsburgh (32-31) @ Mets (34-28) 7:10 PM
Probable starter: TBD

AAA: Indianapolis (33-30) vs Pawtucket (33-30) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter:  TBD

AA: Altoona (33-29) vs New Hampshire (28-34) 5:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Tyler Eppler (4.14 ERA,  14:46 BB/SO, 71.2 IP)

High-A: Bradenton (34-27) @ Clearwater (35-26) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (3.86 ERA,  25:42 BB/SO, 65.1 IP)

Low-A: West Virginia (32-31) @ Lexington (23-40) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gage Hinsz (4.35 ERA, 3:8 BB/SO, 10.1 IP)

DSL: Pirates (2-6) vs Indians (2-5) 10:30 AM (season preview)

HIGHLIGHTS

I feel like at this point, if I don’t include an Austin Meadows highlight, it will be my fault when his streak ends. Here he is hitting a double on Sunday to extend his hit streak to 21 games. It was his 24th extra-base hit in the last month.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

6/13: Sam Street activated from Temporary Inactive List. JT Brubaker assigned to GCL Pirates.

6/11: Pirates acquire Erik Kratz from Angels for cash considerations. Trey Haley designated for assignment.

6/11: Clay Holmes added to Altoona roster. David Whitehead placed on disabled list.

6/11: Pirates place Francisco Cervelli on disabled list.

6/11: Pirates option Kyle Lobstein and Cole Figueroa to Indianapolis. recall Rob Scahill and Arquimedes Caminero.

6/10: Mitch Keller added to West Virginia roster. Logan Sendelbach assigned to GCL Pirates.

6/10: Alex McRae promoted to Altoona.

6/9: Pirates option Jameson Taillon to Indianapolis. Kyle Lobstein recalled from Indianapolis.

6/9: Frank Duncan promoted to Indianapolis.

6/8: Pirates recall Jameson Taillon. Curtis Partch optioned to Indianapolis.

6/8: JT Brubaker promoted to Bradenton. Julio Vivas added to West Virginia roster.

6/6: Clay Holmes assigned to Extended Spring Training. David Whitehead added to Altoona roster.

6/4: Pirates released Nate Irving, Edgar Figueroa, Eric Thomas and Eliezer Ramirez.

6/4:  Pirates option Rob Scahill and Wilfredo Boscan to Indianapolis. Recall Curtis Partch and Cory Luebke.

6/4: Ryan Vogelsong transferred from 15-day disabled list to 60-day DL.

6/4: Guido Knudson added to Indianapolis roster.

6/2: Gage Hinsz assigned to West Virginia. Mitch Keller assigned to Extended Spring Training.

6/2: Justin Masterson assigned to Indianapolis. Frank Duncan assigned to Altoona.

6/2: Arquimedes Caminero assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.

6/2: David Whitehead assigned to GCL Pirates.

6/1: Pirates release Michael Fransoso.

THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY

Two former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, plus seven trades of note.  Mark Lee pitched for the 1980-81 Pirates after they acquired him in a trade from the San Diego Padres. He pitched 16 games out of the bullpen with the Pirates and was traded away during Spring Training in 1982. Also born on this date, Randy Tomlin, who was a member of three playoff teams. He pitched from the Pirates from 1990 until 1994, making 94 starts and 12 relief appearances. He started one game during the 1991 playoffs and pitched twice in relief in the 1992 playoffs.

Seven trades of note on this date, all listed below. Details of each trade can be found in the link above.

1892: Pirates trade Hall of Fame pitcher Pud Galvin to the St Louis Browns for second baseman Cub Stricker. Three days later, without ever playing for the Pirates, Stricker was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Adonis Terry.

1917: Third baseman Doug Baird sent to the Cardinals for pitcher Bob Steele.

1940: Catcher Ray Berres sent to the Boston Bees for catcher Al Lopez, who is a HOF manager.

1953: Infielder Pete Castiglione sent to the Cardinals for outfielder Hal Rice.

1954: Hal Rice (yes him again), traded to Cubs for outfielder Luis Marquez.

1982: Pitcher Eddie Solomon sent to White Sox for infielder Jim Morrison.

1983: Outfielder Marvell Wynne dealt to Mets for catcher Junior Ortiz.

John Dreker
John Dreker
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball. When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.

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