The Arizona Diamondbacks continue to load up on arms in the 2011 MLB Draft. They've now selected four pitchers with their first four picks. Anthony Meo joins Trevor Bauer, Archie Bradley and Andrew Chafin as the team looks to replenish it's farm system with young talent.
Meo is a college junior out of Coastal Carolina where he put up impressive numbers:
2011 season 10-3 with a 2.16 earned run average and an impressive 115-to-31 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 108 1/3 innings. Over his last six starts, Meo went 5-0 with a 1.20 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 45 innings - a stretch that included the first no-hitter in Big South tournament history and a clutch performance against Connecticut in the Chants' NCAA regional opener last Friday.
ESPN baseball analyst Keith Law watched Meo pitch this spring and was impressed:
Based on what he showed over the first few innings, he looks extremely likely to go in the first round, probably in the top 20-25, as long as he maintains this type of stuff. Meo sat 93-96 in his outing, and there was more 96 than 93 to it.
The pitch doesn't have great life but he showed some ability to get on top of the ball and drive it down to the lower half of the zone... He paired it with a hard, intermittently plus slider at 86-90 that, when it was on, had very sharp, late bite, although most of the swings and misses on the pitch were on sliders out of the zone.
Meo could be a starter but seems destined to be a reliever unless he can add a third and possibly fourth pitch. He's listed at 6-2, 185 and is 21-years-old.
Here's a video scouting report from MLB.com.
For more on the 2011 MLB Draft, visit AZ Snake Pit for in-depth coverage of theArizona Diamondbacks and SB Nation's Baseball Nation for national draft coverage.