When the Pirates originally called up Austin Meadows, it was to replace Starling Marte while he was on the disabled list. Then Meadows tore up the league in his first seven games, and when Marte was ready to return, I wrote about how the Pirates had a tough decision to make with Meadows.
That decision? Either send him back down as originally intended, while ignoring the small sample size, or keep him up for good, and commit to him through the inevitable adjustment period.
The adjustment period definitely arrived. Meadows hit for a .686 OPS in June and currently has a .517 OPS in July. Those July totals are only in 29 plate appearances, because Meadows is hardly getting any playing time lately, due to his struggles. He has started just one of the last eight games, and has sat five games in a row now, with speculation that he could be optioned to Indianapolis.
In case you’re wondering, this was the wrong decision to make.
I didn’t think Meadows was ready to be up. He had a .733 OPS in Triple-A, and was just starting to hit right before his promotion. It seemed inevitable that the league would adjust to him in the majors, since we hadn’t fully seen his adjustment yet to Triple-A guys.
But the Pirates kept him up, and he kept hitting for a bit, and that would have been fine if they stuck with him. I believe Meadows has impact upside at the plate eventually, but I didn’t think he was going to reach that this year without the league first adjusting to him.
It could be that sending him down to get on track and make adjustments is the right move. But I wonder what the point of that would be.
Yes, the Pirates are treating this week as an evaluation method on whether they should contend, and I definitely think the results this week should be irrelevant to that decision. At best, they could win out and still wouldn’t look like a true contender, due to how far they’ve fallen behind other teams. So in a season that looks to be an inevitable losing battle, what’s the harm in letting Meadows play, and letting him adjust to the majors?
I think this would be a much bigger issue in August after the Pirates are possibly sellers, rather than now while they’re trying to figure things out. It’s possible they’re using this time to give playing time to guys who they could put on the move. I don’t know who they would be, but I know that Meadows isn’t going to be one of those guys in his rookie year. If that’s the case, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to give out playing time to others until after the deadline.
But if the Pirates are sellers, then Meadows needs to be up after the deadline, using the final two months to try and adjust to the majors. I don’t know if it sends the best message to him to send him down for a long period of time after initial struggles. If he’s still struggling and hasn’t adjusted after two more months of playing time, then a demotion would be warranted. But right now he’s struggling, which you have to expect from a rookie, and those struggles should come with the opportunity to adjust and get back on track.
If the Pirates are going to give that chance to a guy like Sean Rodriguez, and Corey Dickerson, and everyone else on the team, then it only makes sense for Meadows to get the same chance. They kept him up through his hot streak, and now they’re benching him when he’s cooled down, which is the opposite treatment. Hopefully they make the right call on him and give him time to adjust, even if that time comes after the deadline.
TODAY’S SCHEDULE
Today’s Starter and Notes: The Pittsburgh Pirates won 7-3 over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night. The two teams play a doubleheader today. In game one, Ivan Nova will be on the mound today for his 18th start, coming off of three runs over 5.2 innings against the Washington Nationals in his last start. Clay Holmes makes his second big league start in the second game. The scheduled Brewers starters are right-hander Chase Anderson and lefty Brent Suter. Anderson has a 3.81 ERA in 99.1 innings, with 77 strikeouts and a 1.15 WHIP. He faced the Pirates back on May 6th and allowed five runs over 5.1 innings. Suter has a 4.53 ERA in 93.1 innings, with 78 strikeouts and a 1.19 WHIP. He last started on July 2nd, when he allowed five runs in five innings against the Minnesota Twins.
The minor league schedule includes Travis MacGregor starting for West Virginia. He made two starts last week, allowing one earned run in ten innings, while striking out six batters in each game. Indianapolis starter JT Brubaker gave up two runs over four innings in his last start, leaving early due to a high pitch count. Morgantown starter Osvaldo Bido had eight strikeouts in his last start. Bristol starter Roger Santana has seven strikeouts in each of his last two starts. He’s giving up two runs over his last 16 innings. Austin Coley returns from the disabled list to pitch for Altoona and Gavin Wallace goes for Bradenton. The DSL Pirates1/2 are on their All-Star break. They resume play on Monday. Angel Basabe and Yoyner Fajardo will represent the Pirates in the All-Star game.
MLB: Pittsburgh (45-49) vs Brewers (55-40) 12:35 PM
Probable starter: Ivan Nova (4.50 ERA, 76:17 SO/BB, 98.0 IP) and Clay Holmes (7.11 ERA, 4:6 SO/BB, 6.1 IP)
AAA: Indianapolis (49-40) vs Toledo (50-40) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: JT Brubaker (3.82 ERA, 47:28 SO/BB, 61.1 IP)
AA: Altoona (47-40) @ Erie (42-48) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Austin Coley (3.00 ERA, 5:4 SO/BB, 6.0 IP)
High-A: Bradenton (45-42) @ Daytona (49-38) 7:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Gavin Wallace (3.86 ERA, 5:1 SO/BB, 7.0 IP)
Low-A: West Virginia (48-39) vs Delmarva (49-40) 6:05 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Travis MacGregor (2.54 ERA, 61:10 SO/BB, 46.0 IP)
Short-Season A: Morgantown (11-16) @ Staten Island (13-13) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Osvaldo Bido (6.39 ERA, 22:7 SO/BB, 25.1 IP)
Rookie: Bristol (11-12) @ Greeneville (7-14) 7:00 PM (season preview)
Probable starter: Roger Santana (2.79 ERA, 16:4 SO/BB, 19.1 IP)
GCL: Pirates (8-11) vs Yankees West 10:00 AM (season preview)
DSL: Pirates1 (17-19) vs Rangers1 10:30 AM 7/16(season preview)
DSL: Pirates2 (14-21) vs Royals2 10:30 AM 7/16(season preview)
HIGHLIGHTS
From Morgantown on Wednesday night, Travis Swaggerty hits his second home run
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
7/11: Ardent Pabst promoted to Altoona. John Bormann assigned to Bradenton.
7/11: Mitch Keller and Clay Holmes assigned to Indianapolis. Sean Rodriguez assigned to Indianapolis on rehab.
7/10: Joe Musgrove activated from disabled list. Alex McRae optioned to Indianapolis.
7/10: Jackson Williams placed on disabled list.
7/10: Mitch Keller assigned to Bradenton.
7/9: Sean Rodriguez assigned to Bradenton on rehab.
7/8: Francisco Cervelli activated from disabled list. Jacob Stallings optioned to Indianapolis.
7/7: Pirates activate Michael Feliz, recall Alex McRae from Indianapolis. Dovydas Neverauskas and Josh Smoker optioned to Indianapolis.
7/7: Pirates released Felix Vinicio, Pablo Santana and Carlos Garcia.
7/6: Jake Brentz placed on Bradenton disabled list.
7/6: John O’Reilly assigned to Bristol. Sent back to GCL on 7/7, back to Bristol on 7/8 (really happened)
7/6: Rafelin Lorenzo assigned to GCL Pirates on rehab. Raul Hernandez assigned to West Virginia.
7/6: Jin-De Jhang activated from Altoona disabled list. John Bormann placed on disabled list.
7/6: Clay Holmes optioned to Bradenton. Pirates recall Jordan Luplow.
7/6: Raul Siri assigned to Morgantown.
7/6: Pirates sign Zack Kone
7/5: Royals claim Enny Romero
7/5: Francisco Cervelli assigned to Altoona on rehab.
7/5: Dylan Busby assigned to GCL on rehab.
7/4: Pirates recall Josh Smoker.
7/4: Scooter Hightower promoted to Altoona. Ryan Haug assigned to GCL Pirates.
7/4: Jason Delay activated from Bradenton disabled list.
THIS DATE IN PIRATES HISTORY
Six former Pittsburgh Pirates players born on this date, including one of the better pitchers from the early years of the Pirates. Jesse Tannehill pitched for Pittsburgh from 1897 until 1902, starring on the first two teams in franchise history to finish first in the National League. Tannehill was a star during his day, going 197-117 in his career and 116-58 during his time with the Pirates. No one in team history with more than 650 innings, has a better winning percentage. From 1898 until 1902, he won at least 20 games in all but one season. That one year he didn’t, he won 18 games and led the NL with a 2.18 ERA. One interesting note about his career can be found on Baseball-Reference, where they list the most comparable players. For Tannehill, the top five are: The other three pitchers in the 1902 rotation, Sam Leever, Deacon Phillippe and Jack Chesbro, plus Babe Adams and Ed Morris, who both made their name with the Pirates.
As for the other five former players, we have third baseman Jose Hernandez (2003, 06), pitcher Earl Francis (1960-64), pitcher Bob Purkey (1954-57, 1966), utility fielder Jack Farmer (1916) and 1913-15 pitcher Joe Conzelman. More on them can be found in the link above.
Also in the above link, there is a recap of a wild game between the Pirates and Cincinnati Reds from the 1974 season that turned the year around for Pittsburgh. They were 12 games under .500 going into the game and went 51-25 the rest of the way. You can find the boxscore here.
