The Pittsburgh Pirates have made a flurry of moves among their minor league teams during the beginning of June. With the Florida Complex League season starting, they have started to move players around the system to create opportunities for others, or to reward play so far this year.
On player that recently got promoted was 2021 10th round pick Justin Meis, who moves up from Bradenton to Greensboro.
A Bethel Park, Pennsylvania native, Meis was assigned to the Marauders last year after being drafted, and pitched 10 times out of the bullpen, posting a 2.04 ERA with 27 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings.
This year he has been utilized mainly as a starter, making seven starts among 10 total appearances. Two of the three games he’s come out the bullpen he was pitching behind two players on rehab s...
PREMIUM CONTENT
Pirates Prospects has been independently covering the Pittsburgh Pirates and their farm system since 2009. All of our content on this site -- a site that features no advertisements and only our content -- is made possible from subscriptions. Your support allows this unique media company to continue doing what we do best -- and as an added bonus, you'll get to read the rest of this article. Learn more about a Pirates Prospects subscription.
If you're already a member, you can log in below. If you think you're receiving this message in error, please check your account page to verify your subscription status.
Looking at his breaking pitches I see two or a variable slurve. One mostly breaks vertically. One mostly breaks horizontally. Both have curve speed. I’d appreciate feedback.
So, yea I remember reading another site and it said he had a slider and curve. He was on the podcast back when he got drafted and said he just threw the slider. Baseball Savant, who tracks the games and where I get the info, has them listed as sliders which speaks to what he says.
But yea they definitely look different at times. He could mess with the grip/release on some which causes that. I would have to ask him if the situation ever comes up
Thx
Love these articles BTW.
Good breakdown of his stuff. Definitely like the fastball and slider a lot. The change up probably needs to be thrown more to get advanced hitters off the fastball. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be enough separation in speed between the fastball and change for him to have a truly dominant 3-pitch mix.
At this point in time he looks more like a bullpen arm than a SP. Which is okay for me.
The change will definitely be key now that he’s moved up a level. More hitters his age. There are times when it looks really good. Lefties couldn’t touch him last year, partly due to it.
When I wrote about him in the off-season I always kind of expected him to be a reliever and I like that role for him.
But I also like the extra innings he’s getting as a starter too
I was thinking the same thing regarding the lack of separation between FB and CH, which reminds me of keller as his attempt of a changeup needs to be much slower to have a chance at working.
Good point. To me it looks like he throws a two-steamer and a four-steamer.