Austin Meadows is batting .146 in Indianapolis. - Adam Pintar / Indianapolis Indians

Pirates

Below Deck: 'Outside pressures' affecting Meadows at plate

May 10, 2017 • 12:00 am

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — In the moments sitting in the clubhouse or during the long bus rides back to Indianapolis, Austin Meadows has made a habit of checking the score of the Pirates' game.

Many of his former teammates are now in the major leagues after receiving that long-awaited phone call that Meadows has dreamed of since he was 4 years old. The outfielder enjoys keeping tabs on their progress, and the progress of the Pirates, but he said he isn't getting ahead of himself while playing for Triple-A Indianapolis.

"I don't get into it," Meadows told DKPittsburghSports.com last Friday after the Indians' game against the Columbus Clippers at Huntington Park was postponed. "I really support those guys. They're all great. But I focus on what I can control."

He brushes off questions about the hype that comes with being the No. 6 prospect in baseball according to Baseball America and what role the Pirates' outfield situation — particularly Starling Marté's 80-game suspension — had in the slow start to his fifth professional season. But his manager, and one of the Pirates' top executives, said that is precisely why Meadows is struggling at the plate.

"He wanted to get off to a hot start and we had some guys go to the big leagues, so I think he might have pressed a little bit more," Indianapolis manager Andy Barkett explained. "Around the time of the Marté suspension and those things. Some outside pressures he was putting on himself. ... I’m sure when you’re a top-tier prospect (it's difficult) and nowadays it’s hard to hide from your own press clippings. The pressures you put on yourself can be enormous in baseball."

Barkett was the Pirates' assistant minor league hitting coordinator last season when Meadows showed the physical tools that made him the No. 9 overall pick in the 2013 draft. After breaking his orbital bone last March, he batted .311 with 16 doubles, six home runs, 23 RBI and only 32 strikeouts in 190 plate appearances for Double-A Altoona.