The Detroit Tigers have a talent for the future in outfielders Parker Meadows.
In the 2018 MLB Draft, the Detroit Tigers selected outfielder Parker Meadows in the second round out of Grayson High School in Georgia. Meadows is the brother of Austin Meadows, who patrols the outfield for the Tampa Bay Rays.
With big-league talent in the blood, the ball should be in his court to succeed in the Tigers organization. Meadows stands 6-foot-5, 205-pounds and seems to have a future as a corner outfielder who could patrol left or right field for the Tigers.
Meadows has a lot of potential in his tools that will make him a valuable prospect and future player for the Tigers; he just has to capitalize on his opportunities. The potential surrounding Meadows’s offensive tools are what make him an exceptional prospect to keep an eye on.
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In 2019, Meadows spent his time with the Single-A West Michigan Whitecaps at the age of nineteen, where he played in 126 games.
Meadows would hit .221/.296/.312 with seven home runs and 40 RBI on the season.
He also stole fourteen bases for the Whitecaps but was also thrown out eight times on the basepaths.
Parker Meadows is still young but is someone to track on his way to putting on a Detroit Tigers uniform.
Looking at his tools, power is the most exciting thing about his offense. It is raw power, but he uses his swing to drive the ball. He had made some adjustments to his swing and was poised for a jump in development during the 2020 season but has since been left wondering if there will be a season.
The downside with Meadows is the swing and misses and punchouts. Being that he is nineteen, he is still young and developing, but he was punched out 113 times over 504 at-bats. His plate discipline could use some work, but being that he is in Single-A, there is plenty of time.
In the field, Meadows offers a bit of speed that helps him track down balls, and he has a decently surprising arm to pair with his ability for tracking balls down. Paired with his speed in the outfield is his speed on the basepaths.
Meadows is not going to battle Billy Hamilton for the fastest runner, but Meadows will swipe bags here and there. He may not be a total speedster, but he runs well and uses this to his advantage, similar to in the outfield.
He is only nineteen and is going to take some time to further his development and come into his own. If he can make adjustments at the plate to be more disciplined and tap into that power, good things are going to happen. An educated guess says that he will be able to do so, making him an asset.
If all goes well, Meadows is going to be a spectacular addition to the Tigers’ future outfield, which has a few names to get excited about like former first-round selection, Riley Greene. He has the ability to be a power-hitting corner outfielder whose defensive skills are more than viable out in the outfield.
The Detroit Tigers are looking at a future corner outfielder for the big league club who is in the lineup daily if the development path goes as planned.