MINNEAPOLIS — Detroit Tigers outfielder Austin Meadows, who has been on the 60-day injured list because of anxiety and hasn’t played since April 6, returned to Florida — where he lives in the offseason — to continue working on his mental and physical heath.
There still isn’t a timetable for the 28-year-old’s return.
Before returning to Florida, Meadows had been around his teammates in the clubhouse at Comerica Park in Detroit. He was seen watching games from the dugout and celebrating with the Tigers on the field after walk-off wins.
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The former All-Star slugger, making $4.3 million this season, has a .248 batting average with zero home runs, 16 walks and 20 strikeouts across 42 games with the Tigers in the 2022-23 seasons.
He also missed the final month of last season due to anxiety.
The pitching plan
The pressure is on left-hander Matthew Boyd.
Boyd, who has a 5.55 ERA in 12 starts, took the mound Thursday for the Tigers in the four-game series opener against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. What happens Thursday will shape the pitching plan for the rest of the series.
“Our pitching staff is going to be under a lot of pressure,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said, “generally facing this team and then with the volume of innings we’re going to need until things stabilize.”
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For now, the Tigers have two bullpen-only games scheduled for Friday and Sunday. Left-hander Joey Wentz, who has a 7.23 ERA in 13 games (12 starts), is scheduled to start Saturday.
“We don’t really know how it’s going to play out,” Hinch said. “How we use the bullpen tonight (Thursday) will dictate how we use the game tomorrow (Friday). Fortunately for us, we’ve built this bullpen to have a lot of length.”
The Tigers don’t have an abundance of starting pitching depth in Triple-A Toledo, though 23-year-old left-hander Jack O’Loughlin would be lined up to start Sunday if the Tigers need another pitcher.
O’Loughlin jumped from High-A West Michigan to Triple-A Toledo at the beginning of June. He has a 4.40 ERA with seven walks and 14 strikeouts across 14⅓ innings in three starts with the Mud Hens.
Still, O’Loughlin doesn’t seem like an option in the big leagues yet.
“We’re going to have to read and react as we go,” Hinch said. “We have nothing up our sleeve.”
The Tigers continue to wait for the returns of left-hander Tarik Skubal and right-hander Matt Manning. The injured pitchers are on rehab assignments with Triple-A Toledo.
Skubal started Thursday for his third rehab outing, the first with the Mud Hens. The 26-year-old tossed three scoreless innings, allowed one hit and registered five strikeouts. He threw 24 of 31 pitches for strikes, using 45% four-seam fastballs, 23% sliders, 19% sinkers and 13% changeups.
His fastball averaged 95.9 mph, and he generated seven whiffs.
Manning’s second rehab outing comes Friday.
Top prospect returns to Erie lineup
The Tigers didn’t respond to multiple requests for information, but top prospect Colt Keith returned to the Double-A Erie lineup Thursday as the designated hitter after a three-game absence.
The 21-year-old hadn’t played since Saturday.
Keith hit a home run off 24-year-old Jackson Rutledge — the 2019 No. 17 overall pick — in his first plate appearance Thursday. He is hitting .335 with 13 homers, 24 walks and 51 strikeouts across 52 games for Double-A Erie this season.
Last season, Keith suffered a season-ending right shoulder injury with High-A West Michigan in June.
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Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.