Ever since I saw Meek pitch in spring training, I've been worried. He had shoulder surgery last summer and hasn't been the same guy since. The fastball velocity is way down and it's clear that he isn't the kind of pitcher that can be effective without the big velocity (at least not yet).
Here's some 2010 pitch f/x compared to what he's done this year:
The average fastball is coming in nearly three miles an hour slower. The movement is down with it. So what we have here is a slower and straighter fastball, is there any surprise that his numbers are bad?
I really don't think Evan Meek is going to be anything more than another Daniel McCutchen type bullpen guy. He can fill a need when there is one, but he is no longer a guy that you want in your big league bullpen for good. He just doesn't have the secondary stuff or the grasp on pure pitching to compensate for losing that fastball. He could certainly improve, but his days of being an above average reliever are over.
The good news for Pirate fans is that Evan Meek was a Rule V pick that the Pirates gave up nothing to get. They got a stellar 2010 season from him and some decent innings in 2011. You'll take that for free every time.
Another thing that comes to my mind from all of this is how much I want the Pirates to trade Hanrahan. Meek is a great example of how fast a back-end reliever's career can fall. He went from stud 8th and 9th inning guy to AAA in a year, basically. Do we want to risk that happening to Hanrahan? This calls for another post entirely, but I just think the Pirates have too many more important holes that they could fill by trading the luxury they have in Hanrahan. I'll discuss this more later, but the Meek thing kind of just strengthens my views there.
Hopefully Meek will prove me wrong and bounce back and be a major league stud again, but I'm not seeing it.