Detroit Tigers Star Outfielder Avoids Major Injury, but Timetable Unclear

The Detroit Tigers are going to have to take a wait-and-see approach with one of their young star outfielders.

Detroit Tigers outfielder Parker Meadows bats during spring training at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla. on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers received good news earlier this week when they found out that center fielder Parker Meadows did not suffer a serious injury while making an outfield play during the fist weekend of exhibition games.

The bad news is that isn’t clear what his timetable is for returning to the field.

After Meadows tweaked his right bicep on a turn-and-throw on Saturday, he went in for additional testing and it was found that he suffered no major damage to the bicep.

For now, the plan is to continue to treat the injury but keep him off the field. So, there is no timetable for his report, per MLB.com. But the Tigers are pleased that Meadows’ injury wasn’t severe.

In the meantime, the Tigers will run a number of players through the position. Matt Vierling has already played there. Detroit imported Ben Malgeri from its minor league camp to start there for a game. Wenceel Pérez started Wednesday’s spring training game. Ryan Kreidler and Andrew Navigato are utility infielders that can be pressed into service as well.

But Meadows is the player Detroit wants available most days in the regular season, hence the caution.

The 25-year-old Meadows was a second-round pick of the Tigers in 2018. He had an up-and-down 2024 in which he made the opening-day roster, struggled at the plate and was then demoted to Triple-A Toledo.

The Tigers brought him back in July, only to see him suffer a hamstring injury and miss about a month. By then, Detroit was about to put together a huge turnaround that would result in an AL Wild Card playoff berth. Meadows played a big part in that.

In August he had a slash line of .322/.359/.552 with two home runs and eight RBI. He’s carried that into September with a slash line of .268/.323/.500 with three home runs and 13 RBI.

By the end of the season, he had picked up his season slash line to .244/.310/.433/.743 with nine home runs and 28 RBI in 82 games. The Tigers reached the American League Divisional Playoffs before losing to the Cleveland Guardians.

Last year, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said that he liked having Meadows in center field, along with Vierling and Riley Greene in the corner outfield positions during an interview with MLB Network.

“I love having him (Meadows) patrol center field,” Hinch said. “It makes us feel like we have three center fielders in the outfield when I go Green, Meadows and Vierling. We feel like nothing's going to hit the ground.”