Tampa Bay Rays: Austin Meadows Surprise Scratch From Lineup

The Tampa Bay Rays’ star was a late scratch from the lineup on Monday against the Red Sox.

Port Charlotte, FLA – Tampa Bay Rays’ All-Star, Austin Meadows was slated to lead off and play left field for the Rays on Monday against the Red Sox. As the Rays took the field it became evident that Meadows was no longer a part of the starting lineup for the day. Manuel Margo was warming up in left as starting pitcher, Yonny Chirinos began his warm-ups.

The original lineup submitted was as follows:

The Rays will roll out a power-packed top half of the lineup on Monday.

LF-Austin Meadows (L)
3B-Yandy Diaz (R)
1B-Ji-Man Choi (L)
RF-Hunter Renfroe (R)
DH-Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (L)
SS-Willy Adames (R)
CF-Kevin Kiermaier (L)
C-Chris Herrmann (L)
2B-Joey Wendle (L)

The Red Sox had the following lineup:

SS-Jose Peraza (R)
3B-Tzu Wei Lin (L)
1B-Michael Chavis (R)
C-Kevin Plawecki (R)
DH-Rusney Castillo (R)
LF-John Andreoli (R)
RF-Nick Longhi (R)
2B-Jeter Downs (R)
CF-Jarren Duran (L)

At first, there was only curiosity as to why the star outfielder wasn’t in the lineup. A few minutes after the start of the game, Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin tweeted that Meadows was missing from the Rays’ starting nine due to personal reasons.

Hopefully, this is something very minor. Meadows is has been matchup proof and is a potential MVP candidate for the Rays in 2020. He’s one of the few players that doesn’t get platooned due to his splits. Hopefully, it’s not a very serious issue (injury-wise or regarding a serious personal situation) keeping him out of the lineup.

Newcomer, Manuel Margot took over in left and as the leadoff hitter for the day. Margo is coming off of a two strikeout performance against the Yankees and a misplay in which he called off the shortstop on a ball that landed on the infield dirt.

UPDATE: Margot led off the game with a double off of the wall. Good start!