Parker Meadows

Meadows is a prime late-round outfielder to target in redraft leagues and a potentially ascending asset in dynasty leagues. Austin's younger brother had an impressive run in big-league camp during spring training but he struggled out of the gate at Triple-A, slashing .237/.321/.391 in his first 53 games. However, he got into a groove from early-June on, hitting .273 with an .897 OPS, 13 home runs and 12 steals on 13 attempts over his final 59 games for Toledo before getting a late-August promotion to the majors. His 37-game run in the big leagues was impressive on several fronts. First, he provided plus center-field defense with 81st percentile arm strength and 90th percentile sprint speed. He also stole eight bases on nine attempts. Additionally, his 77.9 percent contact rate and 23 percent chase rate are strong marks for a 23-year-old rookie, as were his 35.2 percent groundball rate and 5.4 percent infield-flyball rate. Comerica Park was the 25th best park for lefty power last year, so it's possible his power will be capped in the 15-20 HR range early on, but the 6-foot-5 Meadows may just be scratching the surface as a slugger. He doesn't have pronounced splits and has a chance to be Detroit's leadoff hitter for all of 2024.

Given that he is on the 40-man roster and entering his age-23 season, we should focus on what Meadows did as a high-pedigree, age-appropriate hitter in 489 plate appearances at Double-A. He had by far the best strikeout (18.4%) and walk (10.6%) rates of his career while playing quality center field defense and flirted with a 20/20 season (16-HR/17-SB). Prior to 2022, it seemed like Meadows' hit tool was going to be too mediocre for him to make it as a big-league regular (hits left-handed), but last season keeps hope alive that he can get there. He could debut later in the summer if it looks like he doesn't have much to gain by staying at Triple-A, but Meadows probably won't be ready from a skill standpoint to help out in deeper leagues until 2024.