Pirates' Meadows hits first FSL homer

Injuries limited Austin Meadows to 38 games at Class A last year. Despite that, Pittsburgh still promoted him to Class A Advanced Bradenton to start 2015.

Pirates director of Minor League operations Larry Broadway said the aggressive promotion came partially because Meadows has proven a quick study since going ninth overall in the 2013 Draft.

Meadows showed off his baseball IQ on Sunday afternoon by belting his first Florida State League homer, powering Bradenton to a 7-5 win over visiting St. Lucie.

The Pirates' No. 4 prospect went 3-for-4 with a stolen base. He homered in the first inning off Mets right-hander Logan Taylor, turning on a 3-2 inside fastball and pulling it out to right field.

The 19-year-old center fielder said he knew Taylor was going to try to bust him with an inside heater.

"Honestly, I knew he would come back in," Meadows said. "[On the 2-2 pitch], he threw one inside for a ball, a close call. I knew he would come back in with that after the close call. I got the head on it and hit the ball well.

"I knew he'd come back in. That's how they've pitched me this whole series. … They've been pitching me backwards the whole series."

The Mets never solved Meadows. He added two singles, one in the second and one in the fifth, then walked in a three-run sixth inning. In the eighth, he flied to center.

The performance left him 6-for-16 with two walks in four games. Last year, Meadows missed the first three months of the season and played in only 45 games due to a lingering hamstring injury. In 38 contests with Class A West Virginia, he batted .322 with three homers and an .874 OPS. Thursday marked Meadows first professional Opening Day, and he went 2-for-5 with a stolen base to celebrate.

"I learned a lot last year getting hurt," he said. "I learned to take care of my body.

"It's been good. I'm learning a lot about myself. I'm looking forward to this year. … I feel like I'm comfortable at the plate. I'm having a lot of comfort seeing pitches at the plate, seeing the ball well and feeling good."

Meadows checks in at 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds and earns praise as an above-average runner from MLB.com's Prospect Pipeline. Last year, that running game was hampered by the hamstring injury, limiting him to two stolen bases. This year, he has two steals in four games.

"Coming back, I had soreness there for a couple weeks with the hamstring and all that. I still wasn't at quite 100 percent," he said. "One thing I worked on was my footwork in the offseason, staying quicker and all that stuff to keep my legs under me. … That's one big part of my game."

JaCoby Jones, ranked 13th in Pittsburgh's system, also delivered his first FSL homer in the first inning. The 22-year-old shortstop smacked 23 homers a year ago and earns plaudits from MLB.com for his offensive potential.

The LSU product also committed two errors -- a third was later changed to a base hit. Some evaluators question whether he can handle shortstop defensively at the Major League level, including MLB.com, which wrote, "The jury is still out about his ability to stay long-term" at shortstop.

Pirates No. 16 prospect Wyatt Mathisen also had three hits, including a triple. The third baseman is hitting .545 (6-for-11) through three games.

Steven Brault, acquired from the Orioles for outfielder Travis Snider in February, was dominant early in his system debut. Through four scoreless innings, Pittsburgh's No. 29 prospect struck out five. The left-hander ran into problems in the fifth, surrendering four runs -- three earned -- on two hits and a walk.

Mets' No. 25 prospect Champ Stuart went 2-for-4 with a walk, two stolen bases and two strikeouts. The speedster has five steals in four games to go with a .500 batting average.