After the promotion of Austin Meadows to Altoona today, I got a lot of questions about his future in the organization. This included his ETA, how he fits in to the future plans of the Pirates, and his future upside.
The obvious thing here is that the Pirates have no immediate need for Meadows in the majors. They don't even have a huge need for him in the next few years. Their outfield is made up of Andrew McCutchen, Starling Marte, and Gregory Polanco. Those three are all under team control together for three more seasons. McCutchen is eligible for free agency following the 2018 season, while Polanco is under team control through 2020, and Marte is under control through 2021.