The Detroit Tigers placed Austin Meadows on the 10-day injured list Saturday as the outfielder deals with anxiety.
"The Tigers fully support Austin's decision to step away from the team and prioritize his mental health," said Scott Harris, Detroit's president of baseball operations, in a team-released statement. "As an organization, we have taken many steps to provide and destigmatize mental health resources, and we will do more to help our players tackle the mental and physical challenges they face on a daily basis. We commend Austin for confronting these challenges head-on and ask our fans to join us in supporting him through every step of his journey back to the field."
In a corresponding move, the Tigers recalled outfielder Akil Baddoo from Triple-A Toledo, and he was in the starting lineup Saturday against the Boston Red Sox.
Meadows, 27, stepped away from the team last September to work on his mental health but came to spring training prepared both physically and mentally for the season, he told the Detroit Free Press on April 1.
"Last year was what it was," Meadows said. "I learned a lot from that perspective of the mental health side. For me, when it comes to pregame and recovery postgame, I'm trying to be back to as normal as possible. Be me and just try to worry about baseball. That's the goal."
The Tigers acquired Meadows from the Tampa Bay Rays in an April 2022 trade for infielder Isaac Paredes and a 2022 second-round draft pick. Meadows signed a one-year, $4.3 million contract with the Tigers in the offseason, avoiding arbitration.
In 417 career games with the Pittsburgh Pirates (2018), Rays (2018-21) and Tigers, he has a .259 average with 82 doubles, 70 home runs and 238 RBIs. He was an All-Star in 2019 when he .291 with 33 homers and 89 RBIs.
In the first six games this season, Meadows has a .238 average (5-for-21) with two RBIs.
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