AL Central: Parker Meadows, OF, Detroit Tigers
While the Detroit Tigers are a team with a lot of fun, young pieces, Parker Meadows can often times get lost in the shuffle between guys like Tarik Skubal, Riley Greene, and Kerry Carpenter. Meadows gave baseball fans a nice introduction to his game in the 2024 postseason where he posted an .806 OPS and a 131 wRC+, and can build upon that success in 2025.
Similar to Caminero, Meadows doesn't quite have a full season under his belt yet and should benefit from a lot more playing time. Because of his solid defense in center field, he should get upwards of near 130 to 140 starts in 2025. Over 119 games in the big leagues across 2023 and 2024, Meadows has been a pretty average hitter with 12 home runs, 17 stolen bases, and a slash line of .241/.317/.413. However, it was in the second half of 2024 where he started to break out.
Over 201 plate appearances in the second half, Meadows hit .296/.340/.500, good for an .840 OPS, and then leveraged that into a solid postseason performance. It's also important to note that he was actually better at Comerica Park than opposing ballparks in that time frame, a stadium that has notoriously been pitcher friendly in recent seasons.
Meadows's batted ball profile fits that ballpark very well as he is more of a gap-to-gap, line drive hitter with speed, which produces a lot of extra base hits.
If Meadows can stay hot and healthy in 2025, you are very possibly looking at a 20 home run/20 stolen base campaign for the 25-year-old. There is a lot of upside for Meadows moving forward and a lot of reason to believe he can outperform expectations this year, especially since he's projected to bat leadoff in an upstart lineup.
Parker Meadows hits a go-ahead grand slam with the @Tigers down to their last strike! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/XdGZXdok42
— MLB (@MLB) September 6, 2024