The Tigers say Meadows is making progress in his recovery, but he won’t be ready in time for the opener.
Over the past week this had started to become pretty obvious, but the Detroit Tigers confirmed on Friday that center fielder Parker Meadows will start the regular season on the injured list. The nerve issue he’s dealt with in his right biceps has kept him out of action for three weeks already, and whether it resolves shortly or not, he’ll need time to get up to game speed before he’s able to rejoin the team.
The issue is with the musculocutaneous nerve that runs through his bicep. After a throw from the outfield right at the beginning of Grapefruit League play, the nerve went numb and hasn’t “woken up” yet. AJ Hinch did say that Meadows was making steady progress, but it’s hard to know what that means. There is still numbness in the nerve, and it generally seems like a fairly cut and dried issue. It either lights up and gets back to work, or he can’t do anything but keep his general conditioning sharp. Until that resolves, Meadows won’t be able to take part in any serious baseball activity, and the longer the issue persists, the more likely that he’ll have plenty of work to do to strengthen the muscle again before he can start swinging a bat and throwing with force.
Per Evan Petzold of the Free Press, Wenceel Pérez is slated to get most of the reps in center field. That decision is a bit complicated as Pérez himself has been out of action for over a week with some lower back tightness. The Tigers had planned on him playing on Wednesday, but instead he had some minor soreness and still hasn’t returned to action.
Riley Greene is a backup plan in center field, particularly when the Tigers choose to pinch hit for Pérez. The other two viable options are Jahmai Jones and Ryan Kreidler, who are dueling for a spot on the active roster to play against left-handers. The switch-hitting Pérez is far better as a left-handed hitter.
Overall, the Tigers have had a pretty healthy camp so far. Matt Vierling is out with a rotator cuff issue and probably won’t return until mid-to-late April if all goes well. Alex Cobb is still on the injured list with soreness in his right hip, the same hip he had surgery on last year. There is no timetable yet for him to start throwing again. Finally, starting pitching prospect Ty Madden has also been shut down with a rotator cuff strain. Other than Vierling, the rest don’t impact the Tigers active roster right now.
Compared to most teams, that’s not bad at all. There are still almost two full weeks of camp left before the regular season begins on March 26. The loss of Meadows and Vierling is far from ideal, but if the Tigers can get through the rest of camp without any other notable injuries they’ll have to consider themselves pretty lucky. Longer term, Parker Meadows is a key player on the roster and losing him for a significant chunk of the season would be a real blow to their chances to win the AL Central. The Tigers can only hope the nerve issue resolves quickly enough that he doesn’t miss that much time.