Young Detroit Tigers Star Talks ‘Through the Roof’ Clubhouse Vibes
In just a few weeks, the Detroit Tigers have trimmed their deficit in the American League wild card race from nine games to five games going into this weekend’s series with the Boston Red Sox.
It’s still a tall order for the Tigers to get into the playoffs and end a decade-long playoff drought. But, it’s encouraging — and not just because the Tigers are a win over .500.
It’s been a host of young players that have contributed to the surge, which has seen Detroit win 13 of their last 17 games.
That includes a new left side of the infield with shortstop Trey Sweeney and third baseman Jace Jung. Sweeney came to Detroit in a trade last month, while Jung was the Tigers’ first-round pick in 2022.
They’re not the only young players that are with the Tigers and contributing. Riley Greene and Colt Keith have seats at the table, too. So does Parker Meadows, who earlier this week had the seventh-best WAR of any player in baseball for the month of August.
Meadows went back to the minors for part of the season, but since his return in late July he’s been one of the lineup’s best hitters.
He was on the Tigers' podcast “Have a Seat” recently and he talked about the “vibes” in the Detroit clubhouse right now. It’s a collection of players that have grown up together the past few years.
"The vibes in the clubhouse are through the roof."
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) August 29, 2024
On a new episode of Have a Seat, presented by @FiegerLaw, Parker Meadows talks about the energy of this young Tigers Team: https://t.co/cvrjKa0b45 pic.twitter.com/EXQuIf6Zlz
“The vibes in the clubhouse are through the roof,” Meadows said. “You know, we're celebrating every win, or we're working, playing cards, we're playing ping pong. We're just having fun. It's like you said, it's a young team, and we all came up together. We kind of just feed off each other, feed off that energy and what happens in the clubhouse translates to the dugout and on the field. So, it's fun, being able to perform with all your boys.”
Meadows, the second-round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, has what looks like a sub-par slash line for the season — .224/.297/.424/.721 with five home runs and 13 RBI. But in August he’s slashing .321/.353/.568 with two home runs and eight RBI.
His WAR for August is seventh-best in baseball behind Aaron Judge (2.5), Bobby Witt Jr. (1.9), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (1.4), Jarren Duran (1.4), Juan Soto (1.2), and José Ramírez (1.2).
It’s been a challenging season for Meadows, who made the Tigers’ opening-day roster before he was optioned to Triple-A Toledo on May 7. After two months in the minors, Detroit called him up on July 5 before he moved to the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain on July 8.
After a rehab assignment at Toledo, he returned to Detroit on Aug. 3.
His persistence is paying off and it’s helping those clubhouse “vibes” heading into September.
MATT POSTINS