Tigers fans hope MLB.com is right about their bounce back candidate for 2026

The Tigers got off to a very inauspicious start to their 2025 season when multiple outfielders came out of spring training on the IL. Matt Vierling, Wenceel Pérez, Parker Meadows, and even Akil Baddoo were indisposed by Opening Day.

Pérez came back in late May and managed to have a decent season, but Vierling only managed to play in 31 games between IL stints. Meadows didn't fare much better at 58, but he was available throughout the Tigers' postseason run, even if he wasn't great.

Vierling was a veteran leader in 2024, but Meadows was arguably supposed to be the more exciting player to watch in 2025. After struggling through a lot of 2024, a demotion in May, a roaring comeback in July, going back onto the IL after just three games, and then finally establishing his place on the roster by hitting .296 with an .840 OPS in August and September, an injury to start 2025 just killed all of his momentum. He hit just .215 with a .621 OPS in the regular season and .138 with a .305 OPS in the postseason.

However, MLB.com's Jason Beck tabbed Meadows' as the Tigers' bounce-back candidate for 2026, and we certainly hope he's right.

MLB.com names Parker Meadows Tigers' No. 1 bounce back candidate in 2026

If Meadows can get it together at the plate, he'll really have it all; he's always been an excellent defensive player, even when he's struggling to hit, and he's one of the fastest guys on the Tigers' roster. As aggressive as they are around the bases, it would be nice to have one ringer who we won't have to worry about getting from first to third.

And, as Beck notes, Max Clark's could be knocking on Meadows' door sooner rather than later. He doesn't have the same odds to make the Opening Day roster as fellow top prospect Kevin McGonigle, but he could certainly be in the conversation during the summer, and Meadows looks far more disposable right now than Riley Greene or Kerry Carpenter.

Meadows kind of needs to come out of the gate with guns blazing in 2026, or he could risk losing playing time in center to Javy Báez, who the Tigers plan to use in more of a utility role next year. Perhaps even worse? A banishment back to Triple-A in the same vein as Jace Jung or Justyn-Henry Malloy (who was DFA'ed on Dec. 21). It's now or never.