Austin Meadow had unpacked his bags at spring training. He stood outside his locker strengthened and refreshed after an offseason that served as a return to balance after a difficult year. There was an optimistic undertone in his voice.
Meadows wanted to get back to himself, get on the field and play like the guy who made the 2019 All-Star Game. Meadows retired from baseball last summer after a well-documented series of injuries and ailments to focus on his mental health.
“After going through everything I’ve been through, I’ve had an offseason to reset mentally and physically and I’ve learned a lot from it,” Meadows said in February. “I’m looking forward to getting back out there and taking what I’ve learned and being myself again.”
Meadows spoke relatively about his mental health journey and growth. He mentioned having a team of therapists. He gushed about the birth of his daughter during the offseason. He laughed and enjoyed having his younger brother Parker play in the same outfield with him during spring training. It would have been easy to think that last year’s struggles were behind him.
But in real life, things aren’t always that simple.
“It’s constant work,” Meadows said this spring. “I think anyone going through anything would say that. I have a good team of people who have helped me learn certain things and how to deal with certain situations that might arise.”
Meadows resigned from the Tigers again on Saturday to focus on his mental health. He was in the Tigers’ lineup on Saturday afternoon but scraped with less than an hour to play. The Tigers officially put him on the 10-day injured list with fear.
Scott Harris, the team’s president of baseball operations, made the following statement:
“The Tigers fully support Austin’s decision to retire from the team and prioritize his mental health. As an organization, we have taken many steps to provide and destigmatize mental health resources, and we will do more to help our players navigate the mental and physical challenges they face every day. We applaud Austin for taking on these challenges head on and ask our fans to support him with us every step of his journey back onto the field.”
After Saturday’s game, manager AJ Hinch began his press conference with his own words about Meadows, but declined to answer any further questions about the situation.
“We are thinking of him, supporting him fully and hoping for better times for him,” Hinch said. “That, along with[Harris’]testimony, is all we want to share at this point.”
The Tigers replaced Meadows on the list with outfielder Akil Baddoo, who went 3-on-4 for Triple-A Toledo in Omaha on Friday night. Baddoo said he found out shortly after the game that he was likely to be recalled to the big leagues.
“They told me I was coming to Detroit, so just waiting for the call just to be ready,” Baddoo said.
Baddoo said he woke up at 4:30 a.m. and boarded a flight from Omaha to arrive in Detroit around 7:30 a.m. He had to drive across the Ohio border and get his stuff before heading to Comerica Park.
It’s unclear why Meadows was included in the Tigers’ original lineup, which was released Saturday afternoon.
“Akil came here for the game,” Hinch said. “I don’t want to talk about the situation in Austin right now. Akil came here for the game and was obviously in the line-up.”
The Tigers appear to have backed Meadows over the past year. They have worked to provide better mental health resources to players across the organization.
After acquiring Meadows through a trade from the Rays ahead of the 2022 season, he only played 36 games for the Tigers last season.
“I’m super proud of him,” Hinch said in spring training. “I continue to say how forward-thinking he has been about his experiences over the past 12 months… We are here to support him. We’re going to build a really good support system for him and all our players. His journey was unique and he mastered it very, very well.”
While we don’t know how long Meadows might be gone, we get another reminder that athletes are human, just like the rest of us.
“We always cheer for him and we want him to be here with us,” said Tigers catcher Jake Rogers. “It sucks for him and we will be there for him whenever he needs us.”
(Top Photo: Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)