Around this time two years ago, Parker Meadows stood outside the TigerTown clubhouse and gave an honest assessment of the state of his career. The second-round pick had always flashed promise, but he just had not hit consistently.
Meadows spent the bulk of his first professional season playing for Class-A West Michigan, where he hit .221. After the COVID-19 season in 2020, West Michigan jumped to High A, so Meadows spent 94 more games playing for the Whitecaps. He hit only .208. Whiffs and rollovers kept him awake. Entering 2022, he was on track to begin the season in West Michigan once again.
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“I think the main goal for me,” he said then, “is just to get out of West Michigan. I’ve been stuck there for the past two years, and it’s tough to hit there. I’m OK with admitting that. I’ll just work twice as hard to get out there.”
Much has happened in the two years since. After an offseason overhaul when he finally smoothed out the hitch in his swing, when he figured out how to be on time and began pulling the ball with authority, Meadows spent most of 2022 in Double-A Erie, where he hit .275 with 16 home runs. Last spring, Meadows was one of the top performers in camp, and he carried the success over to the regular season. He had an .811 OPS over 113 games in Triple A, and he earned his way to a major-league debut. Meadows hit a walk-off homer in his fourth career game. Made some diving catches. Bumped his walk rate to 11.7 percent and held his own at the plate.
Those flashes of talent? They became more like prolonged glimpses of a player with a real future.
“I almost bought a house (in West Michigan),” Meadows joked this spring. “But yeah, it’s all surreal now. This game is crazy with the highs and lows.”
Now Meadows enters a new season on track to be the Detroit Tigers’ Opening Day center fielder. His older brother, Austin, is no longer with the team after two long injured list stints with anxiety. The dreams of the Meadows brothers’ sharing the Comerica Park outfield will not come to fruition. But much else is going according to plan for the younger Meadows these days.
Just watch him roam the outfield. The long-legged speedster patrols the grass with grace, gliding around and catching nearly everything hit his way. The Tigers believe he can be a top-tier defender in center, where he was worth three defensive runs saved in only 36 games last year. Meadows is equally dynamic on the basepaths. Just Thursday in a spring training game, his sprint speed reached an elite 30.0 feet per second as he beat out an infield single. In the same game, he belted a home run with a 103.5 mph exit velocity.
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Those traits could make Meadows one of the most entertaining players on this team.
“The defense we take for granted a little bit,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “It’s so graceful, so dynamic. His speed is so fun to watch.”
Parker Meadows running down 1B line at 30.0 ft/sec to beat pitcher to bag on grounder to 1B. That's elite sprint speed. pic.twitter.com/J5VFO56tF4
— Jason Beck (@beckjason) March 7, 2024
Though fellow young sluggers Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson and Colt Keith might get the most notoriety, Meadows has an equal stake in the Tigers’ future. Whether he can continue his offensive progress is the real question.
This spring, Meadows has done nothing to dissuade confidence. As of Sunday evening, he is hitting .304 this spring with two home runs. There are, however, legitimate concerns about his ability to cover the entire plate. He can still struggle with swing-and-miss, particularly on up-and-away fastballs and inside changeups. Although he crushes mistakes, he’s bound to have big-league pitchers attack his weaknesses more this year.
“I worked a little bit mechanically,” Meadows said of his offseason. “I had a little hip leakage, my hips were leaking a little bit, so I just kinda worked on staying back a little more.”
The Tigers seem to have a contingency plan in case Meadows struggles at the plate — it’s one reason Matt Vierling could play more outfield, especially after the Tigers added Gio Urshela at third base.
But make no mistake: In an ideal world, Meadows is the team’s primary center fielder, making plays with his glove, swiping bags and serving as a spark plug at the plate.
His ability to hit will determine whether he ultimately becomes an impact regular or a defense-first platoon player.
But any way you cut it, Meadows’ progress over the past two years has been a victory.
That house he joked about buying in West Michigan?
“I hope,” Hinch said, “he feels that way about Detroit.”
(Top photo of Parker Meadows: Brandon Vallance / Getty Images)