Detroit Tigers outfielder Austin Meadows has left the team to focus on his mental health, the Tigers announced on Saturday. For the same reason, he missed the last month of last season.
“The Tigers fully support Austin’s decision to retire from the team and prioritize his mental health,” Scott Harris, Tigers president of baseball operations, said in a statement Saturday. “As an organization, we have taken many steps to provide and destigmatize mental health resources, and we will do more to help our players address the mental and physical challenges they face on a daily basis. We applaud Austin for taking it head on of these challenges and ask our fans to join us in supporting him every step of his journey back to the pitch.”
The Tigers acquired Meadows in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays just before Opening Day 2022. Meadows spoke candidly about his mental health with the Detroit free press during spring training. This is what he said at the time:
“It was tough. From a mental health perspective, I dealt with some things a few years before the trade, just some anxiety and things like that. It got out of hand during the last off-season, and then the trade, and everything snowballed from there. I had a good team of therapists and people to work with here in Tampa at the time. I tried to figure everything out as I played, and everything snowballed when the trade happened. It was just one few days before Opening Day. The trade and going to Detroit had something to do with it, but the anxiety got worse when I changed cities. I couldn’t adapt. That was the gist of it.
“I’m really lucky that I now have a really good therapist in Detroit that the team has connected me with. This off-season has been amazing with having our daughter (Adelynne), being in a much better place mentally and in a much better be position.” better physical condition. Everything is starting to move in the right direction.”
Meadows, 28 in May, struggled with dizziness and an Achilles tendon injury last season and did not play after June 15. He announced in September that he would not play again that season to focus on his mental health.
In six games this season, Meadows went 5 for 21 (.238) with a double. Officially, the Tigers placed Meadows on the 10-day injured list with the designation “anxiety”. Outfielder Akil Baddoo was called up to fill the roster spot.