James Meeker Makes Major League Debut With Milwaukee Brewers

Posted on: by Randy Gore

In his eighth season of professional baseball, former North Allegheny standout James Meeker received a big league call-up on Friday and made his major league debut with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Meeker, a 2013 graduate of North Allegheny, was promoted from Triple-A Nashville and pitched a scoreless ninth inning in Detroit to cap a 10-0 victory for the Brewers. The 29-year-old right-hander is in his fourth season in the Brewers organization and posted a 1-0 record with a 3.48 ERA in 14 appearances and 20.2 innings with Nashville before his Friday call-up.

Meeker is the third baseball player from North Allegheny to reach the major leagues, joining Tom Carroll and Cory Sullivan on this prestigious list. Carroll pitched for the Cincinnati Reds (1974-75) and Sullivan played in the outfield for the Colorado Rockies (2005-2008), New York Mets (2009) and Houston Astros (2010).

Meeker boasted a successful baseball and basketball career at North Allegheny, where he became the first freshman to pitch in a varsity game in program history. He threw the second perfect game in North Allegheny history as a senior in 2013 and helped the team to a WPIAL baseball championship the same season. When he wasn’t on the mound, Meeker was a slick-fielding third baseman for the black and gold.

The versatile Meeker was also a valuable three-point shooting guard for the North Allegheny boys’ basketball team. As a senior on the hardwood, Meeker led the Tigers to a 22-5 season and an appearance in the WPIAL semifinals and the PIAA playoffs. Meeker paced NA in 3-point shooting percentage, hitting at a 40-percent clip (44 for 111).

Entering the college ranks, Meeker played at Akron and Delaware before signing with the independent Washington Wild Things in the Frontier League in 2018. With the Wild Things, Meeker pitched for four seasons and set the franchise record for consecutive scoreless innings with 33 straight scoreless frames before his contract was purchased by the Brewers in 2021.

(Above photo courtesy of USA Today).