St. Petersburg, Fla. – He heard the ovation. Of course he did.
“That was pretty cool,” said Tigers outfielder Austin Meadows who drew a warm ovation from the sellout crowd at Tropicana Field before Thursday’s season opener. “I earned the respect of a lot of fans here and it helps too that I still have relationships with some players and staff members over there.
“It’s always a special feeling to come back here.”
Meadows, who spent three-plus seasons with the Rays and still keeps his home in the Tampa area (Apollo Beach), threatened to turn those cheers to jeers, though, collecting three hits against his former mates, including a lefty-on-lefty double against starter Shane McClanahan.
“I will definitely take that,” Meadows said. “Kind of got the nerves settled. I had some family here and the way the fans were. It was pretty cool being back. But obviously I would take a win over all of that.”
The Tigers acquired Meadows from the Rays for Isaac Paredes before last season but, as manager AJ Hinch said before Saturday’s game, it feels like they got a new player.
“We didn’t get him a ton last year,” Hinch said. “He never had a spring training with us. He was never quite comfortable for the documented reasons.”
Meadows, as he so forthrightly acknowledged, battled anxiety throughout the entire 2022 season, along with vertigo, COVID and Achilles tendon soreness in both legs. He was limited to 36 games. But, as he has shown throughout the spring and with his three-hit season debut, he’s put that in the rear-view.
“I worked really hard this offseason to get back to being me,” Meadows said. “That was a good start but obviously it’s a long season. You’ve got to stay consistent. The main thing is staying on the field and staying healthy. I know if I’m able to do that I’ll be able to help this team in a lot of different ways.”
Meadows, entering his seventh season, will turn 28 in May. He’s just two years removed from a 27 homer, 106-RBI season with the Rays.
“Any time you miss a lot of time, you feel a little bit like you are playing catch-up,” he said. “It wasn’t the greatest spring for me, but the biggest thing was getting the reps and getting the confidence back of being out there.
“You want to get as many reps as you can. I wouldn’t say it’s been like riding a bike. I would say I started to feel more comfortable toward the end of spring than I did at the beginning and that’s where you want to be leading into the season.”
About Schoop
Jonathan Schoop was not in the lineup against Rays right-hander Zach Eflin Saturday. It was a coach’s decision.
“Schoop is fine,” Hinch said. “We told him he’s going to start against left-handed pitching and it’ll be a little more sporadic against right-handed pitching until we settle into the season. He knew this was coming.”
Against the right-hander, Hinch started left-handed hitters Zach McKinstry at second and Nick Maton at third.
Schoop will likely be back in the lineup Sunday against Rays lefty Jeffrey Springs.
AROUND THE HORN
Around the horn
Infielder Tyler Nevin (oblique) began his rehab assignment with a bang, collecting three hits in Triple-A Toledo’s season-opening win Friday. “We still owe him spring training 2.0,” Hinch said. “He looks closer to being game-ready. Now we’ve got to build his endurance.”
… The Tigers in the last couple of days have purchased two players from the Tampa Bay Rays’ minor-league system — outfielder Grant Witherspoon and first baseman Dillon Paulson. These moves are a function of two things: One, the Rays farm system is overflowing and they didn’t have room for these players at Triple-A. Two, Tigers’ assistant general manager Rob Metzler, formerly in the Rays front office, had a hand in drafting both players.
… Miguel Cabrera was back in the lineup Saturday and Hinch said he will be again Sunday against the lefty starter. Hinch also said Cabrera would start in the Tigers’ home opener Thursday.
… Infielder Cesar Hernandez, whom the Tigers released this week, signed a minor-league deal with the Seattle Mariners.
Twitter@cmccosky
Tigers at Rays
First pitch: 1:10 p.m., Tropicana Field, Tampa, Florida
TV/radio: BSD/97.1.
Scouting report
LHP Joey Wentz, Tigers: He’s been on a surge since last September when he limited hitters to a .161/.255/.312 slash line in his final five starts and then pitched 12 scoreless innings in the Arizona Fall League. He carried that into the spring and was pushing for a rotation spot, which opened up when Michael Lorenzen went down with a groin injury.
LHP Jeffrey Springs, Rays: After sputtering early in his career with Texas and Boston, he’s found traction with the Rays, posting a 2.46 ERA and a 1.1 WHIP last season. He has a four-seam (91 mph), change-up-slider mix which limited hitters to a .222 batting average last year. He got a 35% chase rate, too.