Another Tigers rookie deserves high praise after benefitting from infusion of youth

On Thursday night, Parker Meadows accomplished one of the hardest feats in an already very difficult game. With the Tigers' down by three in the top of the ninth with two outs and a full count, he hit a 101 MPH fastball on the outside of the plate off of an All-Star reliever for a grand slam.

It was an unbelievably clutch, against-all-odds moment for a player who was demoted for two months this season after hitting .096 into early May and missed almost a month with an injury after being promoted again.

Jason Benetti almost blew out his mic on the call: "And the Tigers, like we've said all season long, are! Not! Done!"

Meadows became the first Tiger to hit a go-ahead grand slam in the ninth with two outs and two strikes since Alan Trammell in 1988, and the only the second player to do it on the road since Ted Williams in 1955. And neither Trammell nor Williams saw 101 MPH.

The Tigers have a few players in the running for most improved, and Colt Keith may have been the frontrunner before Meadows' grand slam. Since coming off the IL, Meadows is hitting .301 with a .858 OPS. The Tigers are 39-23 when he's in the lineup.

Parker Meadows solidifies his role as Tigers' most improved player with incredible second-half performance

Last year, Meadows was a late-season call-up who very much seemed to be auditioning for an Opening Day roster spot in 2024. He got off to a hot start at the end of August, batting .294 with a .900 OPS through his first 10 games. Although he cooled off, it was enough for the Tigers to put him in center field to start this season.

Like Spencer Torkelson, Meadows spent the first few months of 2024 seemingly struggling through every at-bat, which led to his demotion. He went back to Triple-A, reworked his swing, and was called back up after hitting .292 in Toledo.

Torkelson has also been much better since he was promoted in mid-August (.273 average, .873 OPS), but Meadows has sneakily been the Tigers' hottest bat. In his postgame interview following the grand slam, he said, "Don't let the Tigers get hot." That should be a warning for their last few opponents through the end of the year.

Though the A's got the best of them on Friday night (a game where Meadows went 2-for-7 with two RBI), the Tigers have come back to gun for that Wild Card spot, and Meadows' improvements are a huge contribution to them even being able to make a run at all.