MLB Awards
LOD’s MLB Player of the Week: RF Austin Meadows – Rays
Meadows continues to stay hot at the plate from May 26 to June 1, 2019
The Tampa Bay Rays (35-21, 2nd AL East) are one of the surprising teams in 2019 as they sit just 2.5 games behind the New York Yankees (38-19, 1st AL East), while having played some great baseball so far this season.
One of the reasons for the Rays surge has been the way their younger players have stepped up including second year right fielder Austin Meadows.
Meadows made his major league debut on May 18, 2018 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and in 49 games with the Bucs, he batted .292, with eight doubles, two triples, five home runs and 13 RBI’s, spanning 154 at bats.
On July 31, 2018, the Pirates sent pitcher Tyler Glasnow and Meadows to the Rays for pitcher Chris Archer. The Rays got the better of the deal as Glasnow has turned into a dominate starter in 2019 posting a 6-1 record, with a 1.86 ERA, and 55 strikeouts in 48.1 innings pitched.
As for Meadows, the change in scenery has proven to be what the young player needed as he has turned 2019 into a coming out party batting .355 (54 for 152), with 26 runs scored, nine doubles, a triple, 12 homes runs and 35 RBI’s, spanning 40 games.
Over the last week from Sunday May 26 thru Saturday June 1, Meadows in batting .500 (15 for 30), with nine runs scored, two doubles, three home runs, 13 RBI’s and 26 total bases.
The Atlanta, GA native had a seven game hitting streak halted on May 31st, but through the streak he had five straight multi-hit games, which included a 4-4 game on May 26th, 3-5 game the following night, then three straight 2-hit games. After going hitless on May 31st, Meadows got back into the hit column with a 2-hit night on June 1st. On the young season, he has had two 4-hit games, three 3-hit games, and a total of 17 multi-hit games through his first 40 games.
On April 21st, he suffered a right thumb sprain putting him on the DL from April 21 to May 11, and causing him to miss 17 games. But he has come back strong, putting up big numbers as he helps his team chase down the Yankees.
Congrats to Austin Meadows for being awarded with LOD’s MLB Player of the Week spanning May 26th to June 1st.
David Conde
David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.
