Hitting heater is key to more at-bats for Meadows

There’s a simple way for Detroit Tigers outfielder Parker Meadows to stay in the lineup: Keep hitting the fastball.

Meadows snapped an 0-for-18 streak at the plate and improved on his 2-for38 mark to open the season by launching an 0-1 four-seamer down the heart of the plate for a 399-foot home run, his first of the year, to help spur a rally that fell short in Wednesday’s 5-4 loss against the Texas Rangers.

“I think part of it is that with Parker, he talks about getting on the fastball all the time and it’s super important,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said. “The guys who have been able to go belt-high and above have really given him a hard time. There’s been some swing and miss in there.

“And so the more strike zone he can cover, the more likely he’s gonna play against these fastball-type pitchers.”

Meadows has a whiff percentage of 30.8% when seeing fastballs. Hinch said that pitch is the key to making him less of a matchup problem (for the Tigers) and seeing more at-bats.

Unfortunately for him, the Rangers’ starter in Thursday’s home finale at Comerica Park (righthander Jack Leiter) is a fastball-heavy righthander making his MLB debut. Meadows didn’t get the start, but Hinch speculated he’ll “find his way to playing a good role in this game.”

“It’s hard. He’s — at least so far — been a little bit of a streaky-type hitter,” Hinch said. “He’s not going to always be that way, but the more he can manipulate the barrel to be able to get to different parts of the strike zone, the (greater the) variety of pitchers that he can face.

“If he just becomes sort of a down-type hitter, down on fastballs or breaking balls that are slow, then he’s going to be destined to be matched up a little bit more often.”

Watch out for the new guy

Hinch discussed the challenges of the an MLB debut for Leiter, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 MLB Draft and the son of twotime All-Star Al Leiter, who played 19 seasons in the big leagues.

“There’s less information on the pitcher this year. We can go back to last year when he was in Double-A, even back to his amateur video and see how he pitched,” Hinch said. “But some things happen this offseason that you’re kind of unaware of until you get game reps in the season.

“He’s unfamiliar from that vantage point, but there are no secrets when you get to this level because we can record everything. We find out exactly how you’re pitching and what your stuff’s doing and what the shapes are. The only unfamiliar part of facing a young kid like today is the beginning.”