Bethel Park's Justin Meis enjoying life with Altoona Curve, patiently working toward promotion

Altoona is by no means the preferred final baseball destination for relief pitcher Justin Meis.

Meis, a Bethel Park graduate drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2021 (10th round, No. 283 overall), is in his second season with the Curve, during which time he’s transitioned from a starter to the bullpen.

While the 24-year-old Eastern Michigan alum has higher aspirations than Double-A, being close to family in Pittsburgh has its perks.

“They come up quite often,” Meis said. “They try to make it up a couple times a week and time it to when I’m going to pitch.”

As for Altoona itself, Meis finds his Blair County digs quite suitable.

“Personally, I really love it,” he said. “It’s got a little bit of that home feel like back in Pittsburgh. The fans here are great. (You) see a lot of the same faces at the games and kind of build small relationships with them. I love the town. Small-town vibe — that’s what I like. Being here has been great.”

Of course, if all goes to plan for Meis, he’ll leave Altoona and continue his journey at Triple-A Indianapolis and beyond.

While Meis has thoughts of what his future holds, he does his best to stay locked in to his next outing with the Curve.

“When I’m going really well, I’m going one pitch at a time and one day at a time,” Meis said. “At the same time, everybody’s goal here is to make it to Pittsburgh as fast as possible. For me, by the end of the year, it would be great to make it up to Indianapolis. If I end up getting a call to Pittsburgh, that’s obviously the ultimate goal.”

On the whole, Meis has not had the season he was hoping for, as he has posted a 6.88 ERA through 20 appearances and 35 1/3 innings.

After a tough start to his 2023 campaign, Meis bounced back after getting settled into his new relief role, posting a 2.26 ERA over his final 16 outings of the year.

But through April and May of this season, Meis failed to build off of his strong end to 2023.

Opposing batters hit .316 off him in April and .352 in May, with Meis’ ERA and WHIP spiking to 8.48 and 2.02 by June 2.

However, Meis has had more success lately, posting a 2.79 ERA in June.

“I feel like I’ve been attacking the zone pretty well,” he said. “Earlier in the year, I was spraying the ball a little bit, falling behind to hitters. You go through stretches in baseball where some things go your way and some things don’t. Recently, it’s been better. I’ve just been trying to stay in the zone, let my stuff play and just try to take it one pitch at a time.”

Since converting to a bullpen role early last season, Meis has often been called upon in longer relief situations.

This season, 13 of his 20 appearances have been multi-innings.

“I enjoy it. I like it a lot,” Meis said. “It’s pretty fun to get the ball when it’s a close game and your team relies on you to put up zeros. I think most of the guys would say that. When it’s late in the game or a one-run game or you’re up a couple runs, putting up zeroes and going out there and competing, you’re coming into a game in a certain situation and you’re just trying to put up as many zeros as you can. I’m enjoying it, it’s fun.”

Meis knows he’s got more work ahead in proving to the Pirates brass that he’s ready to face the next level of minor-league competition.

Until then, he’s committed to stacking outings in the same vein as what he’s done this month.

“For now, come in every day, try to get a little bit better and try to have a little bit of that tunnel vision to just focus on my work,” Meis said.