Austin Meadows, the Pirates’ No. 2 prospect according to Baseball America, will remain with the Pirates, manager Clint Hurdle said.
“I think we tried to put our best roster together right now,” Hurdle said. “I have no shelf life on [Meadows’ promotion], nor would I want to, nor do I need to. He's earned this opportunity. This is what’s next, and we'll see where we go from here together with him individually and as our club.”
Meadows was called up May 18 to play center field when Starling Marte went on the disabled list with a strained right oblique. Since then, Meadows has collected 13 hits in 29 at-bats, hit three homers and recorded five RBIs.
“It gives us a stronger bench, and it’s going to afford us an opportunity to keep the three frontline outfielders, I think, in a better physical condition than we ever could have afforded before,” Hurdle said.
Rather than send Meadows back down when Marte was activated Saturday, the Pirates and Hurdle decided that Meadows will continue to have opportunities to play outfield — in all three spots — and to give all four outfielders both adequate playing time and rest. The Pirates sent down Jose Osuna instead.
“We need to continue to monitor [Corey] Dickerson's on-field innings,” Hurdle said. “Marte’s bouncing back, we’re going to be smart with, and [Gregory] Polanco. So I think between the four of them, and a true fourth outfielder, we’ll be able to have the opportunity to get everybody playing time” and rest.
The Pirates typically don’t like to call up major prospects only to sit them on the bench, and the Pirates’ initial plan was to send Meadows back down so that he could continue his development in triple-A.
“I think that’s the understanding we all wanted to have coming in and then his performance was eye-catching,” Hurdle said. “Very similar to the performance of a young man who was here a few years ago: Gregory Polanco, who started his major league career with an 11-game hitting streak. We’ll see where this all goes. However, for us to continue to try to put our roster together the best way we have the opportunity to do so, with the stretch of games that are coming up, it seemed like the tactical baseball move to make.”
Meadows is not in Saturday’s starting lineup.
“Nobody wants anybody out of the lineup,” Hurdle said. “These guys do need time out of the lineup just to stay in a good spot. So it’s not easy by any means, but there are decisions that need to be made.”
Elizabeth Bloom: ebloom@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1750 and Twitter @BloomPG.
First Published: May 26, 2018, 6:31 p.m.
