The following guest contribution was written by Richard Pallarino (@rpallarino). Richard is a student at CUNY-College of Staten Island and a Constituent Aide at the New York State Senate.
Loganville, GA, just east of Atlanta, is the home to an 17 year-old high school senior baseball player that will most likely be selected within the top 5 picks of this year’s MLB Amateur Draft. His name is Austin Meadows and he plays for Grayson High.
He stands at 6’3”, weighing 205 lbs., calling his home the outfield and very seldom plays first base. Batting left handed and throwing left handed, Meadows has been labeled with the talk of being the 1st overall selection in the 2013 Draft since he was a junior.
This past summer, Austin committed to Clemson University to play collegiate baseball. There is no doubt that he will be selected in this year’s draft, but he will decide which route he would like to take when the time comes.
Scouts compare Meadows, a five-tool phenom, to Josh Hamilton. As a junior this past season, Meadows put up the following numbers: .390 AVG, 4 HR, 28 RBI, 19 SB. Austin was a member of the USA 16U team, hitting a superb .537 AVG, 1 HR, 28 RBI, 6 SB, over 8 games. In the NFL, scouts time 40-yd dashes; in baseball, scouts time 60-yd dashes. The average 60-yd dash time for MLB players is 6.6; Meadows is at 6.31.
There is no question pertaining to his talent, and when reading articles where he has been interviewed, Meadows does not pose any questions in my head regarding his character. There has been a lot of hype surrounding this 17 year-old stud for the past couple of years and there is more to come. He has handled the media very well, and according to an ESPN article written by Matt Remsberg, Meadows will be maintaining radio silence when it comes to all things MLB draft.
Going based on scouting reports and professional opinions, the MLB will feature outfielders such as Trout, Harper, Meyers, and Meadows in the next few years.
I wish nothing but the best of luck for this young talent and his family.
