MLB Pipeline finished their top ten prospects by position late Wednesday night with outfielders. Austin Meadows was ranked fourth among all outfield prospects last year at this time by MLB Pipeline. On this year’s list, they have him as the third best prospect, trailing Andrew Benintendi of the Red Sox, and Victor Robles, who was reported to be the top target of the Pirates in Andrew McCutchen trade talks with the Nationals.
MLB Pipeline noted that Meadows has an advanced approach at the plate and he started showing more power in 2016. They also called him an excellent defender in center field, who profiles as a player with the ability to stick there in the majors. Meadows is obviously blocked at this point in Pittsburgh, and will probably end up at a corner position. He struggled a little in his debut in Triple-A with his batting average, though his .757 OPS for Indianapolis was 60 points above the league average. He still needs some time in Triple-A before the Pirates have to make a move to open up a spot for him. Meadows could be ready by mid-season if all goes well.
On Tuesday, Ke’Bryan Hayes was named the ninth best third base prospect. Kevin Newman just missed the shortstop list on Wednesday morning, though I’ll point out that the position is loaded with top 50 prospects. Earlier in the rankings, Josh Bell finished second for first basemen, and Tyler Glasnow was second for right-handed pitchers. Mitch Keller just missed that list, giving the Pirates a total of four players among the top ten at their position, and two just outside of the top ten.
On Saturday night at 8 PM EST, MLB Pipeline will reveal their top 100 prospects on MLB Network. You can follow along live here, as we will post an article just prior to the show and update it as each prospect from the Pirates is mentioned. The Pirates had five prospects on last year’s top 100 list for MLB Pipeline.
