PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — To start out the 2022 season, Whitecaps veteran Parker Meadows has been seeing the ball well.

“My timing feels really good right now. There’s a lot of highs and lows in this game, and I don’t want to get too high on the good days,” said Parker Meadows.  

He hasn’t taken too much time celebrating his recent success — he’s left that to his parents, who often fly into town to watch him play.   

“As his dad I tell him every day to go out there and have fun, and he seems to be doing a lot of that lately,” said Parker Meadows’ dad, Kenny Meadows.  

Staci and Kenny Meadows have come to the LMCU Ballpark often throughout his last three years as a Whitecap.

“They’ve been an amazing support system. Not only for me but for Austin too,” Parker Meadows explained.

His parents often also often visited Tampa Bay, where his brother Austin Meadows spent four seasons.

That changed recently for the parents when their son was traded.

“We get a call from Austin that he had been traded, and Austin asked me, ‘Where’s dad? where’s Parker?’” recalled Staci Meadows.

It was a phone call two weeks ago that changed the Meadows family travel plans for the near future.  

“(Austin) said, ‘Well, I’ve been traded!’ And I said, ‘Austin, where?’ And he said, ‘Go get dad, where’s Parker?’ I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ so I go to them and he said, ‘We’ve been traded to the Tigers,'” explained the baseball players’ mom.

With the move, Austin Meadows is now two hours away in Detroit. He helped Parker Meadows become the baseball player he is today.

“We talk pretty much every night, not always about baseball. He’s my role model,” explained the right fielder.

Having his role model two hours away may be a reason why he’s playing so well early on.

“That brought out a side of Parker that we haven’t seen in a while. You’re seeing the benefits on the field. Knowing his brother is a few hours away, it’s really going to help him succeed in the next chapter, wherever that might be,” Kenny Meadows added.

Eventually the family would love to only have to visit Detroit to watch both sons play for the Tigers.

“It would be amazing, but we understand a lot can change in the year,” Staci Meadows explained.  

No matter where Parker Meadows ends up, he knows he has a support system that will have his back wherever he goes.

“They’re a blessing and pretty good teammates to have on your side,” he said.