LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers acquired outfielder Austin Meadows in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays Monday night.
Detroit sent infielder Isaac Paredes and a competitive balance round-B pick to Tampa Bay in the 2022 amateur draft for Meadows, who hit .234 with 27 homers and a career-high 106 RBI last season.
Detroit has improved greatly after going 77-85 in its fifth straight losing season last year. Meadows joins a lineup that includes Javier Báez, who signed a blockbuster deal with the Tigers in free agency, and Spencer Torkelson, one of the majors’ top slugging prospects.
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Meadows, who turns 27 on May 3, is a .260 hitter with 70 homers and 225 RBI in 375 career games over four seasons. He broke into the big leagues with Pittsburgh in 2018 and was traded to Tampa Bay in July in the Chris Archer deal.
Meadows was named to the AL All-Star team in 2019 when he finished with a .291 batting average, 33 home runs and 89 RBI.
Meadows’ younger brother, Parker, was selected by Detroit in the second round of the 2018 draft. He played for Class A Lakeland and Class A West Michigan last year.
Paredes, 23, can play second, third and shortstop. He hit .208 with one homer and five RBI in 23 games with Detroit last season.