Pittsburgh Pirates Austin Meadows Riding 20-Game Hit Streak

By Jason Burke |

Nov 7, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Austin Meadows during the Arizona Fall League Fall Stars game at Salt River Fields. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Pittsburgh Pirates have some talent on their farm, with right-handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow heading up the list. Right behind him is Austin Meadows, currently in Double A Altoona, and he is approaching a franchise record.

What started on May 23 with a 2-for-3 day against the Akron RubberDucks has come to a 20-game hit streak after a 2-for-5 night against Reading on Saturday. Over this span Meadows has added over a hundred points to his batting average, entering the May 23 game languishing at .192, to where it currently sits at .311.

To make such a big jump in just a few weeks means that Meadows has been doing more than just getting a single hit each night to keep the streak alive. In those 19 games, only nine of them have been one-hit performances while in another nine games he has recorded two hits, and a pair of games saw him with three. Over the course of 78 at-bats that works out to a .423 average.

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Obviously with more hits comes more statistical accolades. All five of his home runs have come during this streak, while 15 of his 20 runs batted in have also come in the past 20. Add to this that he has five stolen bases, three triples and three doubles and it’s easy to see than that Meadows has been a force at the plate.

In his 78 at-bats he has struck out just nine times, which works out to 11.5%. While he’s still not quite as low as Jose Altuve and his 9% strikeout rate, he is surrounded by some good company with Adrian Beltre and Nolan Arenado sitting with similar strikeout rates at the Major League level. On the season however, Meadows has struck out at a 19.8% clip, and that includes the lower strikeout numbers from the past three weeks.

The 20-game streak is tied for second in Altoona franchise history, and is only one off the record of 21 set by Kevin Sefcik in 2002.

With this streak Meadows could be approaching a promotion to Indianapolis to join fellow top-5 prospects Tyler Glasnow and Josh Bell.

The problem here is that the current trio of outfielders in the big leagues in Gregory Polanco, Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte will be staples in the Pittsburgh outfield for at least the next couple of seasons when McCutchen is set to be a free agent after the 2017 season. He does, however, have a team option for 2018.

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The road to the big leagues may not be clear for Meadows, but Indianapolis is running with only two players listed as outfielders on their official roster, so without much maneuvering Meadows could find a spot at the next level if he proves that this is more than a hot streak (albeit a very good one). Pittsburgh has no incentive to rush him along though, so they can ultimately move him along at their own pace.

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