Austin Meadows Active For ALDS

The Rays released their 28-man roster for their ALDS matchup with the Yankees. Here’s the full breakdown:

Right-Handed Pitchers

• Nick Anderson
• Diego Castillo
• John Curtiss
• Oliver Drake
• Pete Fairbanks
• Tyler Glasnow (Game 2 starter)
• Charlie Morton (Game 3 starter)
• Aaron Slegers
• Ryan Thompson

Left-Handed Pitchers

• Aaron Loup
• Shane McClanahan
• Blake Snell (Game 1 starter)
• Ryan Yarbrough

Catchers

• Michael Pérez
• Mike Zunino

Infielders

• Willy Adames
• Mike Brosseau
• Ji-Man Choi
• Yandy Díaz
• Brandon Lowe
• Joey Wendle

Outfielders

• Randy Arozarena
• Kevin Kiermaier
• Manuel Margot
• Austin Meadows
• Brett Phillips
• Hunter Renfroe
• Yoshi Tsutsugo

Most notably, Meadows returns to the roster after missing Tampa Bay’s first-round sweep of the Blue Jays. (However, he’s not in the starting lineup for the series opener). Out since September 17 with an oblique strain, Meadows will attempt to get his season on track for the stretch run. Perhaps the Rays’ best player a season ago, the 25-year-old slumped to a .205/.296/.371 line over 152 plate appearances in 2020. An early-season bout with COVID-19 certainly didn’t start him off on the best footing, although he’ll have a chance to right the ship in the postseason. First baseman Nate Lowe, who was available in the Rays’ opening series, was removed from the active roster to accompany Meadows’ return.

Tampa Bay will run with the same 13-man pitching staff they used against Toronto. That presents another opportunity for the flamethrowing McLanahan to make his MLB debut. The highly-regarded prospect was added to the roster entering the postseason to lengthen the bullpen for manager Kevin Cash, but he didn’t appear in the first round.