LAKELAND, Fla. — The Detroit Tigers acquired outfielder Austin Meadows in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.
Detroit sent infielder Isaac Paredes and a competitive balance round B pick in the 2022 amateur draft to Tampa Bay for Meadows, who hit .234 with 27 homers and a career-high 106 RBI last season.
Detroit is much improved after going 77-85 last year in its fifth consecutive losing season. Meadows joins a lineup that includes Javier Báez, who signed a blockbuster deal with the Tigers in free agency, and Spencer Torkelson, one of the majors’ top slugging prospects.
Meadows, who turns 27 on May 3, is a .260 hitter with 70 homers and 225 RBI in 375 career games over four seasons. He broke into the big leagues in 2018 with Pittsburgh and was traded to Tampa Bay in the Chris Archer deal that July.
Meadows made the AL All-Star team in 2019, when he finished with a .291 batting average, 33 homers and 89 RBI.
Meadows’ younger brother, Parker, was selected by Detroit in the second round of the 2018 draft. He played for Class A Lakeland and Class A West Michigan last year.
Paredes, 23, can play second, third and shortstop. He batted .208 with a homer and five RBI in 23 games with Detroit last season.