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Kipper : #Pirates Stock Up The Future Offense With Austin Meadows 'N Reese McGuire In The 2013 MLB Draft

By Kipper @pghsportsforum
The Pirates having a unique chance in the 2013 MLB to draft 2 players in the Top 15, choose a couple of young Highschool bats in Brian Meadows (9) and Reese McGuire (14). Some didn't think that the Pirates could draft both, that they'd both be there, but they were and the Pirates snagged both. Neither should be the difficult (or impossible) signing that Mark Appel was in 2012, so this really adds to a nice stock of Offensive talent the Pirates have in the system now, layering in more potential down the pipeline.
Ausitn Meadows :
Position: OF
DOB: 5/3/1995 (Age: 18)
Height/Weight: 6’3”/215 lbs
Bats/Throws: L/L
School: Grayson (Ga.) HS
College Commitment: Clemson
Austin Meadows has been compared to Jay Bruce in terms of power and bat but more athletic. He's a CF'er and you can never have too many guys with range for PNc Park. Meadows possess an above average arm. the one knock on Meadows is that he's such a calm, disciplined hitter that it could impact his power, but this kid is a Highschooler. There's going to be a lot of refinements to his game during his Minor League career to get the best and the most out of him. The bottom line is that all of the potential is there for this kid to be pretty special.

Reese McGuire :
Position: C
DOB: 3/2/1995 (Age: 18)
Height/Weight: 6’1”/190 lbs
Bats/Throws: L/R
School: Kentwood (Wash.) HS
College Commitment: San Diego
One thing that sticks out about Reese McGuire is that he really projects similar to Tony Sanchez. He's got Plus Defense, Plus Arm. He's got plus speed. His bat projects to be average and so does his power, but projections see this as a kid that could be a consistent average+ hitter. All of the attributes you like to see out of a catcher. Where he's further along than Sanchez at this point is calling games. Sanchez went through a lot of college ball not calling games and McGuire hasn't been held back.

Remember, these are 2 Highschool kids. You should be expecting, 4 years in the Minor Leagues. These guys were chosen for the future and the future for the Pirates Offensively looks exciting with the number of younger bats in the system like Hanson, Polanco, Allie, Bell ...