Detroit Tigers: Austin Meadows all clear of injuries with a fresh start ahead

Detroit Tigers’ Austin Meadows is undergoing a typical off-season program.

For the Detroit Tigers, it will be a long offseason full of change. For Austin Meadows, it’s going to be a chance to reflect on the season that never was in 2022 and be able to hit the reset button ahead of 2023.

After the Detroit Tigers acquired Meadows in the Spring of 2022, there was a lot of excitement surrounding the new addition. There was an expectation that Meadows would bring a nice punch to the lineup from the left side.

Ultimately, there were a lot of good things that Meadows would be able to bring to the table. But, the season became a stretch of unfortunate injuries and challenging adversity for the veteran outfielder.

Between COVID-19, Achilles strains, and vertigo spells, things were troublesome for Meadows. He found his way into 36 games for the Tigers before things went down the drain. He ended up having his season shut down amid some mental health struggles.

But does anyone really blame him? Meadows was put through the wringer. Every time it seemed like he was healthy, something would pop up, or a setback would keep him off the field for longer. Amid the struggles, Meadows had a hard time battling all of these struggles.

He ended up sitting out the remainder of the season, and the Tigers’ front office was fully supportive of the decision to ensure he spent the time he needed to get back to 100%. In the Tigers’ latest medical update that was posted on Twitter, there was some good news.

Meadows has reportedly been given the all-clear to get back to normal. He is symptom-free and able to perform his normal off-season program. This all-clear was from the Achilles injuries that caused him issues earlier this summer.

But Meadows still needs to get back to 100% with the mental side of things to ensure when 2023 rolls around, he will be able to show the Tigers the player that they know he can be. Meadows was not doing horribly before his injury, all told.

In his 36-game stint, he managed 147 plate appearances. He slashed .250/.347/.328 with six doubles, two triples, and 11 RBI overall. The average is not great, but he was drawing walks, working counts, and getting on base.

Meadows was dominating the strike zone, something that the President of Baseball Operations, Scott Harris, is a big fan of. There was room to be better, and that slash line would have led to a worse season than expected.

However, Meadows has this offseason to get 100% right and come out swinging this Spring. It will be interesting to see how it works out for Meadows, but at least his physical health is back to 100%, so he can continue to get the support he needs and make a much-anticipated return.