An Honest Assessment Of The Austin Meadows Situation

This is the hard part of the job. Last spring, the Detroit Tigers acquired Austin Meadows in a trade for Isaac Paredes. At the time, I loved the deal. Meadows may have peaked in 2019, but he was still a well above-average Major League ballplayer capable of hitting 20+ home runs for a team. On the flip side, you had Paredes, who just never seemed to find it while he was in Detroit. Naturally, because the Rays are the Rays, they turned Paredes into a feared power bat, and Austin Meadows has barely seen the field for the Tigers. Last year, he dealt with many injuries and setbacks before ultimately revealing that he was taking the rest of the season off as he dealt with an anxiety issue. He started 2023 on the Opening Day roster and went 3-4 in his first game back, but several weeks later, he found himself back on the IL as he continued to deal with his anxiety. We're currently in the second half of the season, and there's no timetable regarding a potential return. He doesn't owe anyone any explanation. It's his right to deal with this privately. But time is ticking, and Meadows' place within the organization is becoming increasingly uncertain every day. 

My heart breaks for Austin Meadows. People who haven't dealt with crippling anxiety will never understand how hard it is to live and function in society. The most simple tasks seem insurmountable. And as time has passed, many people have questioned whether or not the Rays were aware of Meadows' anxiety issue. I'm not even going to speculate on that at this point. He's a Detroit Tiger. That's what matters. I've been around the block long enough to know that no matter what, there will always be boomers on Twitter who will never let their guard down long enough to understand what Meadows is dealing with. 

"He has millions of dollars. Some of us can't afford to take time off." 

I don't write blogs for ignorant people. If you consider being on the IL for almost two seasons with anxiety as "time off," I don't know what to tell you. It's a shitty situation for him. At the same time, one of the hardest lessons to learn when going through mental health struggles is that you're not the main character in anyone's story. I'm sure if Austin Meadows had it his way, he would've paused time last April as he worked through things. Nothing works that way. It would please us immensely to see him come back and contribute as a member of the Tigers. But baseball is a business, and business is ruthless. If everything were right and just in the world, teams wouldn't give up on players struggling with mental health. But if this organization doesn't feel like he'll be capable of playing here for a long time, they will have a tough decision. I don't want Detroit to give up on him, but we can't ignore the baseball side of this. Detroit's outfield is getting crowded. This isn't some great squad, but Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter, and Matt Vierling have all started to prove themselves as Major League players. With Miguel Cabrera off the books next year, there's a chance one of those players could DH, but if we're just coming at it from a baseball perspective, would it be responsible for the Tigers to put their faith in a player that hasn't seen the field in two years? The thing is, you can feel tremendous empathy for what Meadows is going through and also acknowledge that he has a lot to prove, and that's assuming he comes back healthy. I think September would be a perfect opportunity for Meadows to prove himself. If he returns and starts hitting, his future in Detroit becomes much clearer. At a certain point, you need to know what you have.

The last thing I want is for this blog to come across as cold. You all know I'm an emotional guy. Seeing Austin Meadows hit a home run at Comerica Park, considering everything he's been through, would give me chills. I got a comment a few weeks back where someone said that Austin Meadows "Doesn't represent Detroit." I scoff at that notion. Meadows coming off the IL and raking would be about as Detroit as it gets. I hope we get to that point. On a human level, it would be a remarkable statement regarding what it means to overcome adversity. From a baseball standpoint, it would make the Detroit Tigers a much better team, which every fan wants. There's still a great ballplayer in Austin Meadows. I hope we get to see him in Detroit one day.