MLB: The Top Ten Prospects in Baseball
10. Austin Meadows, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
Austin Meadows was the 9th overall pick in the 2013 draft by the Pirates out of high school in Georgia. Coming into this season, the toolsy outfielder was rated consistently among the three major rankings, rated #22 by Baseball America, #20 by MLB.com, and #22 by Baseball Prospectus.
Meadows has been a lot of tools and not a ton of production to this point, with 2015 being his best year as he hit .310/.360/.420 with 7 home runs and 21 steals. This year, though, Meadows has leaped forward, showing tremendous skills on top of his tools, waiting on the best pitch in an at bat rather than just swinging at the first good pitch of an at bat. The results have been obvious, as while his batting average has been down a bit due to an initial slump once he got to AAA, Meadows has combined between AA and AAA to hit .296/.346/.592 with 8 home runs and 10 triples (!!) along with 11 stolen bases.
Meadows has already made things a bit uncomfortable for the Pirates. His presence was part of what helped to push Josh Bell from the outfield to first base, and now with superstar Andrew McCutchen only owed a guaranteed $15M after this season and only signed at most through 2018, the Pirates are seriously considering the idea of trading their 4-time top-5 MVP finisher, and 5-time All-Star, to open a spot for Meadows rather than trading away Meadows’ tremendous talent.
Meadows will be part of trade rumors all summer along with his teammate at the beginning of the season,
Harold Ramirez, a top 100 prospect in his own right. However, I would be surprised to see the Pirates making that move outside of an incredible run in July to get them into the playoff race again. This offseason will be interesting to see how the Pirates solve their outfield glut!
9. Blake Snell, LHP, Tampa Bay Rays
Snell was a compensatory first-round pick (#52 overall) by the Rays in 2011. He progressed as the Rays like to move their pitchers, advancing one level at a time before last season when he didn’t allow a single run in his first 4 appearances, 21 innings at high-A. After being promoted to AA, he continued dominating, and didn’t slow down at AAA either. Overall, he made 25 appearances, 23 starts, throwing 134 innings, with a 1.41 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and 53/163 BB/K ratio. This incredible performance led to Baseball America ranking Snell #12, MLB.com ranking him #14, and Baseball Prospectus #21.
Snell has a four-pitch arsenal that he utilizes. He has a fastball that sits from 90-93, peaking at 95, and his long arms at 6’4 (and 180 pounds listed, though he’s filled out more since that listing) allow him to get good reach toward the plate, making his velocity play up even further. He has good late sink on the fastball.
His three off speed offerings are what set Snell apart. His change is essentially his fastball, but 10-13 MPH slower, with a mirror of break, even. His slider has great bite that rides in hard on right-handed hitters. The curve has become his major weapon against lefties, as he’s adjusted his grip to spin the ball more like a sinker than a true curve, so he gets curve depth through great wrist action on a pitch that spins like a sinking fastball that bites in on left-handed hitters.
That pitch combination from the left hand side is a tremendous combination, and his mechanics are easy and loose. The one thing that he has struggled some with in the minors is poorly maintained mounds where he can’t get his feet right in his motion, but that won’t be an issue for him in the major leagues.
Snell is four starts into his major league career at this point, and he’s showing very well thus far. He’s a great example of an organization being patient with a developmental arm and it paying off big, as Snell was never a regarded prospect at all before 2015, and now he’s one of the biggest in the entire game!
Next: #8 & #7