Austin Meadows’ injury-plagued first season in Detroit continues, as the Tigers announced this evening that he’s been placed on the 10-day injured list with Achilles strains in both legs. The outfielder had been on the COVID-19 list for the past 11 days; he’d been set to go on a minor league rehab assignment but the Achilles issues represent a notable setback. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press writes there’s currently no timetable for his return.
Meadows also lost a couple weeks in May while fighting vertigo-like symptoms. The series of health issues has kept him to 36 games thus far, and his production at the plate has taken a step back. Meadows is hitting .250/.347/.328 across 147 plate appearances, and he’s yet to hit his first home run in a Tiger uniform. The left-handed hitter popped 27 homers and 29 doubles for the Rays last season, but he’s unfortunately not had much of an opportunity to get into a groove this year.
Needless to say, it’s not been the kind of season the Tigers front office envisioned when acquiring Meadows from the Rays for infielder Isaac Paredes and a draft choice just before Opening Day. It’s been something of a Murphy’s law season altogether for the Tigers, who have been hit by a host of injuries in the starting rotation and an offensive drought throughout the lineup. Detroit entered play tonight 28-44 and is certain to move some shorter-term players over the coming weeks after their hopes of competing this season were dashed early on.
Meadows is playing this season on a $4MM salary after avoiding arbitration with the Rays over the winter. He’s controllable twice more via the arb process and can stick around in Detroit through the end of the 2024 campaign.
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