Parker Meadows can be a tantalizing player, a long-legged gazelle who roams center field with remarkable grace. From time to time, when he hammers a mistake pitch or strides his way to an extra base, the offensive potential can be intoxicating.
The Detroit Tigers optioned outfielder Akil Baddoo on Friday and recalled Meadows in his place.
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But the last time we saw Meadows in the major leagues this season, there was another side to that coin. He hit only .096 through 32 games. He whiffed at fastballs up and away and was often bamboozled by breaking balls low and in. He could seem utterly overmatched at the plate, to the point the Tigers finally had little choice but to send him down, regardless of how much they hoped to see him make his adjustments at the major-league level.
Down in Triple-A Toledo, Meadows did the predictable. He raked at the plate with a .298 average and a .904 OPS. He belted eight home runs and swiped 19 bags. He cleared up timing issues that left him powerless against major-league fastballs and hit .381 against fastballs and sinkers from Triple-A pitching. Even against high-end velocity of 95 mph or more, Meadows hit .308.
“I’ve just been seeing the ball better, plain and simple and attacking the heater,” Meadows said last month in Toledo. “That’s when I’m best as a hitter, is when I’m able to get on top of the heater and drive it to center field.”
For weeks, he has been knocking on the door for a return to the majors. One reason the Tigers may have held off is that Meadows still struggled against spin, hitting only .170 with an average exit velocity of 85.1 mph against breaking balls. He swung and missed at those pitches at an even higher clip (35.3 percent) than he had in the major leagues (31.9 percent). It’s a legitimate concern.
The Tigers have announced the following roster moves:
• Following yesterday's game, optioned OF Akil Baddoo to Triple A Toledo
• Recalled OF Parker Meadows from Triple A Toledo— Tigers PR (@DetroitTigersPR) July 5, 2024
Perhaps, though, there was more at play. Between last year and this year, Meadows has 82 days of major-league service time. He needs 90 more days to accrue a full year of MLB service. There are only 87 days remaining in this season. So if the Tigers had recalled Meadows for their most recent series against the Twins, Meadows would have reached a year of service time and been eligible for arbitration after the 2026 season.
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By waiting until this series against the Reds, the Tigers gain an extra year of team control. But Meadows may still be arbitration-eligible after the 2026 season if he remains in the majors long enough to earn Super Two status.
The Tigers had previously pointed to the fact calling up Meadows would mean taking away playing time from other young hitters such as Justyn-Henry Malloy. But over the past few weeks, Baddoo has largely been stashed on the bench, and the Tigers’ roster has not functioned as intended. With other hitters struggling and the bench weakened, the platoon-oriented Tigers have used pinch hitters only four times in their past 10 games, going 3-7 in that stretch.
“We certainly haven’t been able to deploy that strategy a lot,” manager A.J. Hinch said recently. “It’s completely different. It is something I’d like our guys to get back to.”
Meadows has curiously played more games in Triple A (47) than Baddoo (40) this season, not something anyone would have guessed in spring training.
Now with Meadows back, the Tigers can lean on his plus defense and base running. They will wish for his bat to hold its own in the major leagues. They will hope, again, all those tantalizing flashes of talent can turn into tangible production that could help Meadows assert himself as a real piece of the future.
(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
