On their own, had they grown up separated by a couple of time zones rather than merely a couple of Starbucks, Austin Meadows and Clint Frazier still may have developed into baseball prodigies.
We’ll never know. For in advance of MLB’s first-year player draft (rounds 1 and 2 are Thursday), those two are joined at the roots and likely will stay that way until the end of their playing days.
They have been swinging in each other’s shadows since Little League and have played at high schools only five miles apart, making them a virtual paired entry in the horse race that is draft day.
Most important, they have thrived in one another’s company.
“Having someone with a talent like Austin’s really makes you want to push yourself every day to get to that level,” Frazier said.
“We have a lot of life-changing moments we’re about to go through, and having someone like him (nearby) really helps,” he said.
They are would-be stars in stereo, two multi-tool high school outfielders who have made Loganville Ground Zero for this draft. Both Loganville High’s Frazier and Grayson’s Meadows have been projected as high first-round picks, maybe among the top dozen. That would make them both instant Titans of finance — for instance, MLB’s bonus slot values range from $7.8 million for the top overall pick to $2.9 million for No. 10.
“If we’re picked high, there’s always going to be that pressure on us,” Meadows said, “and we’ll have that all of our careers.”
They were together again as late as a week ago Friday, as the MLB Network was filming some staged interaction as part of a predraft story on the Loganville connection. As Meadows flipped some soft-toss pitches, Frazier jokingly complained that they weren’t meaty enough. He wasn’t hitting as many out as did Meadows earlier.
“Everything has to turn into a competition,” smiled Meadows’ father, Kenny.
The odds of one young man rising to the top of the baseball draft are ridiculously long. What then of two who started in youth baseball at Gwinnett County’s Mountain Park, played travel ball together for one year for the South Gwinnett Storm then played at neighboring high schools? That is lightning striking the same sapling twice.
Loganville and Grayson meet early each season in a non-region skirmish, a game of no great importance in the standings, but one that drew pro scouts and team executives by the score this year. The coaches struck an informal agreement that their pitchers would not work around Meadows and Frazier so as to give the crowd something to see. Such was the attention on the meeting of the two high-profile outfielders that the administration at Loganville (site of this year’s meeting) took extreme steps to maintain order.
“Twenty-four kids got called into the front office and were told if they said anything (off color) during the game, they’d be suspended the rest of the year. They didn’t want anything that would make Loganville look bad,” Frazier said.
The home field suited him just fine — Frazier hit two home runs in Loganville’s 14-4 victory. Meadows, taking a walk and being hit by a pitch, was a much more modest 0-for-1.
For high school baseball players at this level, things tend to get a little weird.
Opposing fans break out their best venom for guys with the biggest reputations. In the postseason, Frazier had a baseball thrown at him from the stands while he was in center. Another fan base made up a large poster of Frazier, only to take turns ripping it to pieces in front of him. There were the fairly constant catcalls of “Hey, ginger” (Frazier has a mop of bright red hair) and “Overrated!”
Then, at the opposite end of the notoriety scale, here were a couple of high school kids who are well-practiced already at the art of autograph signing. They did it at nearly every game. One father and son in town from Florida to catch a Braves game drove to both high schools to catch the young stars during practice just to get their signatures. Another fame speculator from Japan sent Meadows a ball to sign.
Both players were prominently featured in the Baseball America draft-preview section (Frazier on the cover), and both served as the centerpiece to a Sports Illustrated story labeling Georgia a draft-day “Land of Plenty.”
“I appreciate it. It’s a blessing to be in the spotlight we’re in today, and hopefully we can take advantage of it,” Meadows said.
As the two hit the circuit of showcases and all-star games last summer, as they continued on a treadmill of workouts for major league teams right up to draft week, their families grew ever closer. Scarcely a week goes by that Staci Meadows and Kim Frazier don’t text or talk to each other with updates on their sons, as well as other family headlines.
The story of household commitment to a baseball future is one that Meadows and Frazier share. In Frazier’s case, that story took a detour last year when his father, Mark, lost his job as a salesman at a cement company. He has since gone back to work, but at the time the expenses of his son’s baseball travel and his daughter’s impending wedding were piling high.
“Her biggest day and his biggest day were approaching at the same time,” Mark Frazier said.
So what was a parent to do? “You don’t eat out, you cut back on the cable. You do whatever you have to do,” he said.
“I’m very thankful for (mom and dad),” Clint Frazier said, “thankful that they put my baseball career ahead of themselves in some cases.”
All this shared experience, all this common geography suggests that these two will be subject to constant comparison.
While they play similar positions, while their back stories have some similar themes, Meadows and Frazier have their share of contrasts, too. They are built along different designs, Meadows at 6-foot-3, a slightly taller, leaner model of outfielder than his counterpart. They swing from opposite sides of the plate (Meadows is the lefty). And Loganville does not breed in its young sluggers just one skill set.
“They are different players in a way,” Grayson coach Jed Hixson said. “Clint is more a power guy than Austin. Austin has the pop, but he’ll drive it in the gaps more and use his legs a little more than Clint.
“Austin is bigger, height-wise; Clint’s got that Popeye forearms already. He really has that bat speed that makes him the power guy he is. Meadows is the better athlete, I’d say, overall.”
There is some evidence that Frazier may have an edge in arm strength. “If (Frazier) pitched, he’d probably be one of the better pitchers we ever had — mid-90s off the mound,” said Jeff Segars, the Loganville coach.
Meadows grew up a Braves fan, Frazier had less provincial tastes. His favorite player now is Washington’s Bryce Harper. Meadows is a Josh Hamilton guy.
If their conjoined careers continue their current trajectory, it will be up to the next generation of ballplayer to decide whether he’s a Frazier guy or a Meadows guy.
