Meadows makes MLB debut with Pittsburgh Friday

2014 outfielder becomes 69th former Power player to make MLB debut

Austin Meadows played 38 games with West Virginia in 2014, batting .322 with three homers and 15 RBI. (Sam Santilli)

By David Kahn

May 19, 2018

CHARLESTON, W.V. (May 19, 2018) -Austin Meadows, the Pirates' second-best prospect per MLB.com, was promoted to Pittsburgh and made his MLB debut with the parent club on Friday. Meadows had spent all of 2018 with Triple-A Indianapolis thus far, posting a .294 average in 32 games with a home run

CHARLESTON, W.V. (May 19, 2018) -Austin Meadows, the Pirates' second-best prospect per MLB.com, was promoted to Pittsburgh and made his MLB debut with the parent club on Friday. Meadows had spent all of 2018 with Triple-A Indianapolis thus far, posting a .294 average in 32 games with a home run and 15 RBI. The Atlanta native is the 69th former Power player to play in the big leagues.
In his debut against the San Diego Padres, Meadows went 2-for-4 with two singles and a stolen base, registering his first career MLB hit in the bottom of the fourth on a single to right field off Tyson Ross.

The 2013 first-round pick was selected ninth overall by the Pirates out of Grayson High School in Loganville, Ga., splitting his rookie season between the GCL and short-season Jamestown. After averaging .316 in his inaugural campaign, Meadows made his only trip to Charleston in 2014, playing in 38 games with the Power and clubbing three home runs and 15 RBI while averaging .322. He secured his first career Player of the Week award with West Virginia on August 11, 2014, after boasting a .480 clip with two homers, four doubles and seven RBI.
Meadows jumped to Advanced-A Bradenton in 2015 and nabbed his first Mid-Season All-Star nod with the Marauders, following that up with Postseason and MiLB.com Organizational honors after ending the season with Double-A Altoona. Despite an injury-plagued 2016, Meadows saw time at the Triple-A level for the first time in his career and snagged a spot in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game. He ended the season with a career-high 12 home runs across three levels and was tabbed with his second consecutive Organizational All-Star award.
Following his first non-roster invite to Spring Training in 2017, Meadows began the year with Indianapolis. He ultimately played in 72 games for the Indians while hitting at .250 with four homers and 36 RBI in another injury-riddled season, as a strained right hamstring contained him to 81 games last year.
Meadows is the fourth former Power player to make his MLB debut in 2018, following right-handers Clay Holmes, Colten Brewer and Nick Kingham. For information on all of the former Power players who have logged time in the Major Leagues, visit www.wvpower.com.