Detroit Tigers Star's Mysterious Injury Now More Pronounced Following Vierling Update
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The Detroit Tigers will be without an important piece to the puzzle on Opening Day.
It was revealed that Matt Vierling's shoulder injury is going to cause him to miss some time, taking him out for at least the start of the season which changes how A.J. Hinch will put together this roster with the veteran expected to play both third base and right field.
"Obviously, there's more competition at multiple positions. There are players we feel can fill in at a lot of different spots. Clearly, we're comfortable with the depth we have. We'll see how that emerges," the skipper said per Lynn Henning of The Detroit News. "Guys still need to earn their way onto this team. We have a lot of different ways we can put this team together."
One of those ways would be having Parker Meadows in center field.
The former second-round pick was a completely different player when he came back following his early-season demotion and stint on the injured list in 2024, going 55-for-186 with six homers, 21 extra-base hits and 23 RBI in 47 games during the months of August and September.
He's critical for the Tigers, and yet he's dealing with a mysterious injury of his own.
On the official injury report released by Detroit, Meadows is listed as having "right upper arm inflammation" which will cause him to undergo "further medical evaluation."
Tigers injury updates:
— Cody Stavenhagen (@CodyStavenhagen) February 28, 2025
Matt Vierling has a strained rotator cuff muscle. He will rest before further evaluation.
Parker Meadows (right upper arm inflammation) is still being evaluated pic.twitter.com/FedawtQBhD
Jason Beck of MLB.com previously reported that no "major damage" is present for Meadows, whose injury was classified by the insider as a right biceps tweak.
Further testing during this stage of the spring is normally precautionary, especially with there still being roughly a month until Opening Day.
The expectations is the Tigers will release more information about Meadows on Saturday or Sunday, so there should be more clarity given in the coming days.
But with Vierling missing time with the injury he suffered, there is now more attention on what the status of Meadows will be with Detroit already down a critical part of their team.
