Pittsburgh Pirates' Austin Meadows now pressure-free, hitting in Triple-A

Thanks to an injury, Pittsburgh Pirates top prospect Austin Meadows was able to hit reset mentally.

He could be sidelined due to injury or struggling inside the batter’s box, but the 22-year-old views all obstacles in his path as part of a greater plan.

“I’m a strong believer that God has a plan for me,” said Meadows. “Whether it’s on the field, whether it’s injury, whether it’s a tough night at the plate, whether it’s a good night at the plate, no matter how anything goes, there’s always a plan for everything in place.”

Meadows, who is considered Pittsburgh’s top prospect by MLB.com, went to the 7-day DL with a hamstring injury earlier this season. The reoccurring ailment consumed five-plus weeks while derailing his campaign with Triple-A Indianapolis.

Now, he is back on track and ball is constantly meeting bat.

“Having a lot of time off the field with the rehab process — five-to-six weeks — it opened my eyes to not take any day for granted,” Meadows said. “If something happens, it happens. There’s always going to be that bounce-back opportunity.”

During the Indians’ current homestand, the promising outfielder is riding a three-game hitting streak — his longest at the level since May — and has six hits, including two doubles, in 13 at bats. Meadows is finally healthy, hitting and, most importantly, feeling no pressure.

“Early in the year, I was pressing a little bit and putting pressure on myself,” he said. “There’s always that thought in your mind: When’s this going to happen? When’s that going to happen? For me, obviously, having that time off with rehab kind of helped me clear my head.”

Recovering in Bradenton, Meadows was able to take full advantage of the Pirates’ Spring Training facilities and medical staff. Also, the left-handed hitter benefited from extra swings in the batting cage.

“I was able to get a lot of work done in the cages down at Pirate City,” said Meadows, who was rehabbing alongside teammate Barrett Barnes. “That’s all we kind of did for the first two-to-three weeks.”

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Entering Saturday, Indianapolis leads the International League West division with 11 regular season games remaining. If they hold on to their 6.5-game lead, Meadows could have up to 22 games left thanks to the Governors’ Cup playoffs and Triple-A National Championship Game.

Still, even with a long postseason run, the maximum number of games Meadows could play this year is 102 — 40 contests short of a full minor league season. Thus, he feels time in the Dominican Winter League is in his future after September 19.

“I’ll probably make up for some at bats somewhere,” he said. “We’ll see what happens [and] whether it’s Dominican winter ball.

“That would be the best thing for me: Just playing some winter ball and getting some at bats and facing that type of competition.”

Next: Pirates' Clay Holmes nearing career-highs

Other than taking advantage of the Caribbean Winter Leagues, the Georgia native will focus on staying fit and healthy this offseason.

“The main thing is keeping my body in shape, keeping my body healthy,” said Meadows. “It’s been a struggle this year.”

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