Justin Meccage has heard from people all over baseball in advance of the MLB Draft, in hopes the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen coach can offer some unique insight on a top-100 prospect.
His nephew, Bryce Meccage, is a 6-foot-4, 210-pound right-hander who pairs an upper-90s fastball with two high-spin breaking pitches and is projected to be selected somewhere between picks No. 30-60.
“From what I’ve seen, I think he fits that mold,” Justin Meccage said. “He’s athletic, he throws hard and has all the metrics you’re looking for from a spin rate perspective and secondary pitch perspective.”
Justin has worked with Bryce in the bullpen many times but because of his MLB schedule had never seen him pitch in a game in person until this year, when he played in a game in St. Petersburg, Fla., while the Pirates were in spring training in nearby Bradenton. When there were more scouts than spectators in attendance, Justin Meccage knew his nephew had a chance to be drafted high.
“I saw him pitch and was like, ‘Oh, snap!’ ” Justin said. “I saw him live in this environment — which is a challenging environment even for a college guy or a big leaguer — where it’s just scouts and you on the mound. I told him afterwards, ‘That’s impressive what you just did.’
“It was like 95-97, strikes, composed, no anxiety. At that point, I’m like, ‘This is a legit pitching prospect.’ I’ve seen a lot of them. I’ve seen a lot of guys like this. That’s kind of how it’s progressed over the last six months. I got to see him pitch live and was like, ‘This guy can pitch.’ ”
Bryce Meccage, who is committed to Virginia, has strong baseball bloodlines and family with familiarity with the draft. His father, Jeremy, was a starting pitcher at Iowa who was drafted twice by the Los Angeles Dodgers but signed with the Detroit Tigers and later spent eight years as Princeton’s pitching coach. Justin was drafted in by the New York Yankees in the 32nd round out of Oklahoma State in 2002.
And Justin is a getting a possible preview of what could be to come for his oldest son, Kyler, a 15-year-old rising sophom*ore left-handed pitcher/center fielder at IMG Academy in Bradenton.
‘24 RHP Bryce Meccage (Pennington) @BryceMeccage
No. 3️⃣6️⃣ in the class.
In 22 innings of work this season, Meccage (@UVABaseball recruit) didn’t allow a single hit. Also managed to pick up 47 K’s. In today’s outing against Hightstown; K’d 11 and walked 4.
FB: Mostly 93-96… pic.twitter.com/J7lZFBtqXN
— Dan Valerio (@DanValerio3) May 14, 2024
No. 3️⃣ RHP Bryce Meccage (Pennington) @BryceMeccage
Physical @ 6’4” 210
⚡️FB (93-97)
Multiple breaking balls. Really like the Kick CH. ????@ShooterHunt || @PBR_DraftHQ https://t.co/ARavtngnwY pic.twitter.com/1Tp5RgLDKD
— Dan Valerio (@DanValerio3) July 11, 2024
Bryce Meccage is ranked the No. 51 prospect by MLB Pipeline and No. 71 by Baseball America. Although New Jersey doesn’t have a great reputation for prep baseball, Meccage was dominant during his senior season. He didn’t allow a hit all season, had 47 strikeouts against nine walks with an 0.64 ERA in 22 innings and broke the school’s career strikeouts record.
MLB Draft analyst Keith Law of The Athletic, who watched Meccage pitch this spring, believes he can become even more effective once he learns to focus less on velocity and harness his fastball command.
“I saw him throwing very hard. He was up to 97 (mph) with good life on the fastball and two different breaking balls,” Law said. “It was a rough delivery. Area scouts have said, when he dials it back a little bit, when he doesn’t see 20 radar guns, he can pitch at 92-94 but it’s strikes and it’s still real good. That boosted my evaluation of him, off what those scouts said.
“I find him really interesting because he’s a pretty good athlete. You get that guy in and say, ‘We don’t want you to throw a pitch over 94. We just want you to throw strikes.’ First of all, you can keep him healthy for a lot longer. Second of all, what does that look like? That might be a guy that, even at 19, is able to rip through two levels of A ball because 92-94 with that breaking stuff, if he can throw strikes with it, it’s very exciting. Meccage is very intriguing because if that other version that I did not see is in there, he’s going to be a really interesting pick for somebody.”
Justin Meccage has his fingers crossed that it’s the Pirates, which would give him a chance to someday coach his nephew. By coincidence, the only Pennington School product to be picked in the MLB Draft, Don Anderson, was selected by the Pirates in the 33rd round in 1967.
“I just want what’s best for him. I want him in the best situation to develop to get to the big leagues,” Justin Meccage said. “I tell him all the time, ‘Regardless of what you get in the draft, you make your money in the big leagues by being able to stay in the leagues.’
“You want a system that’s going to support him in that. I think the Pirates are one of those systems. And obviously, I can be a little bit more hands-on with him here, being in Bradenton in the offseason can be very beneficial. There’s a lot of really good programs out there but being familiar with this one and knowing what we have, there’s great opportunity here. The Pirates do a great job of progressing guys through the system. It could be a really good thing. No matter where he ends up, I think he’s going to be in a really good spot to get to where he wants to get to, which is a long-term success story in the big leagues.”
Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
