BRADENTON, Fla. — Austin Meadows's time in big league camp has come to an end.
Meadows, the Pirates' No. 2 prospect according to Baseball America, was among the Pirates' second round of cuts Monday, along with Jack Leathersich, Clay Holmes, Bryan Reynolds, Jason Martin, Cole Tucker, Christian Kelley and Damien Magnifico.
The Pirates, who host the Orioles at LECOM Park on Monday, now have 53 players in major league camp, including 18 non-roster players.
Meadows, a 22-year-old outfielder, Leathersich and Holmes were optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis. The others were reassigned to minor-league camp.
Meadows batted .368 with two doubles, a triple, one home run and a team-high 8 RBIs in nine games this spring. He'll begin the season in Indianapolis after injuries derailed his first full season there in 2017.
"Obviously a good spring for Austin," Neal Huntington said. "We saw some very good development from him, health first and foremost. Played like a baseball player. You could see he was loose, he was free, he was athletic. Obviously had good results but moved around the field and showed us what he could become in the future. Get him out to Triple-A, get him some at-bats, get him some confidence. Let him learn some things at that level and prepare himself to come help us win games in Pittsburgh."
Meadows, a first-round pick in 2013, has been slowed by injuries the past two seasons.
A broken orbital bone kept Meadows out of the lineup until April 25, 2016, but he batted .311 with 16 doubles, six home runs and 23 RBI in 190 plate appearances for Double-A Altoona. He was promoted to Triple-A in July but suffered a hamstring injury in his 12th game. Meadows batted just .214 in 145 plate appearances at that level in 2016, but he was still ranked among the top prospects in baseball entering 2017. He also missed the Arizona Fall League season because of an oblique injury.
When Starling Marte was suspended 80 games this past April, Meadows struggled at Triple-A, beginning the season in a 1-for-23 slump. Meadows lifted his average to .248 in June, but a hamstring strain forced him to miss six weeks. He then started to excel upon his return in August before an oblique injury that effectively ended his season.
His first ‘full’ season in Triple-A ended with a .250 average, .311 on-base percentage and .359 slugging percentage with 36 RBI in 72 games. With Corey Dickerson now on the Pirates' roster, Meadows could spend the entire season at Indianapolis, barring an injury to a major league starter.
"You’re still talking about the future and how excited we are about the future, but it’s a little closer than it’s been in the past," Huntington said of his conversation with Meadows. "Just reminding him to go be himself and reminding him to go do the things he does so well. Focus on his growth and development and get better every day."
Holmes, a 24-year-old starting pitcher, pitched three scoreless innings in the Pirates' 5-0 win over the Blue Jays on Sunday. He pitched all of last season in Triple-A and could make his major league debut sometime in 2018. Leathersich, a left-handed relief pitcher, was no longer a candidate to join the Pirates' bullpen after the club acquired Josh Smoker and Kevin Siegrist.
"He's definitely one of the options we feel very good about that could come up and make a major league start for us," Huntington said of Holmes. "If we carry the two young starters in the bullpen in April we're going to need guys in May and June. If Clay continues to show us he can be a major league starting pitcher it's just a matter of trust, trusting his weapons, trusting his work."
Bryan Reynolds, the outfielder acquired from the Giants in the Andrew McCutchen trade, went 1 for 16 in 11 games this spring. The 23-year-old switch-hitter will begin the season at Double-A Altoona after batting .312/.364/.462 with 10 home runs in 121 games for the Giants' High-A affiliate last season.
Jason Martin, the outfielder acquired from the Astros in the Gerrit Cole trade, is also going to begin the season at Double-A after going 3 for 16 this spring. Martin, 22, batted a combined .278/.332/.487 with 35 doubles, five triples, 18 home runs, 66 RBI and 16 stolen bases in 125 games between High-A Buies Creek and Double-A Corpus Christi last season.
Shortstop Cole Tucker, a first-round draft pick in 2014, batted a combined .275/.358/.408 with 47 stolen bases in 110 games between High-A Bradenton and Double-A Altoona last season. He'll return to Altoona with Kevin Newman expected to begin the season as the starting shortstop in Indianapolis.
"They get to see major league pitching," Huntington said of the benefit of having Reynolds, Martin and Tucker in camp. "They get to see players they've admired from afar. They get to be in a major league clubhouse. They get to learn from major league veterans. They get to see the speed of the game, feel the speed of the game. They get to feel like they belong. Even though they were challenged a little bit statistically, we had some at-bats, we had some good defensive plays, we had some opportunities for them to realize they're close but that they also have some work to do."
Kelley, a 24-year-old catcher, spent all of last season at High-A, and Magnifico, a right-handed reliever, was selected by the Pirates in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft in December.