By STEVE KRAH
Max Meyer was faced with the possibility that his baseball playing career might be over.
A right-handed pitcher bound for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 2023-24 with two remaining years of eligibility, Meyer went more than a year without throwing in a game following Tommy John surgery to correct an Ulnar Collateral Ligament injury.
After missing his senior season at Floyd Central High School in Floyds Knobs, Ind., because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Meyer played that summer in the Louisville Collegiate League then went to Indiana State University. He never got into a contest in his two seasons with the Sycamores.
It was April 27, 2021 — toward the end of his freshman year — that Meyer tore his UCL. He had surgery a week later (May 4).
The recovery time was long.
The day he was to begin throwing again an attack of appendicitis meant meant another surgery and three months to recuperate.
Meyer went to the wood-bat collegiate Northwoods League in the summer of 2022 and made 10 appearances with the Rochester (Minn.) Honkers.
A shoulder injury caused him to shut it down again and he did not touch a baseball while focusing on his studies at Indiana State, where he was an Aviation Management minor with an Unmanned Systems minor.
In the spring, Meyer took a call from Matt McCue — head baseball coach at Frontier Community College in Fairfield, Ill.
Meyer transferred to the junior college just before the start of the 2023 season. In 13 games (eight in relief) for the Bobcats, he went 4-5 with 60 strikeouts and 30 walks in 47 2/3 innings and headed back to Rochester to pitch six times in the first half of the summer season with the Honkers.
He then returned to Indiana to prepare for his transition to a new school and baseball program.
Meyer, who turns 22 in September, says he will change his major to Aeronautics with an Unmanned Aircraft Systems minor while vying for a role on the ERAU pitching staff.
Randy Stegall is the NCAA Division II Eagles head coach. His brother — former Indiana Tech assistant Chuck Stegall — is an ERAU assistant.
Throwing over-the-top, Meyer employs a four-seam fastball, cutter, curveball and splitter.
Before Tommy John surgery, his four-seamer sat at 90-92 mph and touched 93. That’s more like 87-88 and 90 now.
The cutter travels at 82-84 mph.
“It comes in like a tight fastball with every late action going to my left (away from a right-handed hitter),” says Meyer.
His 12-to-6 curve plays well with his fastball. He likes to tunnel the pitch (which goes 68-71) after a quick one.
His “circle” changes tends to be 80-82 mph and fades away from righty swingers.
He added the splitter to have something to throw to a hitter the third or fourth time through the batting order.
“I want to make them think about something else,” says Meyer.
A wrestler his first two years of high school, Meyer was in the 113- and 132-pound weight classes.
In 2023, the hurler is up to 6-foot and 195.
“When I look back at it I was undersized going into my college career,” says Meyer, who put on size to help stabilize his body.
Born in Indianapolis, Meyer moved with his family to Georgetown, Ind., following his third grade year.
Even before moving, he began playing in the New Albany (Ind.) Little League.
In his teens, he played travel ball for the Indiana Redbirds, Louisville (Ky.) Smash and the last three summers for the Southern Indiana/Louisville Rawlings Tigers (coached by Nathan Walls and Les Archer).
Meyer was on the junior varsity in his first two years at Floyd Central and made the varsity as a junior in 2019, playing right field or pitching for Highlanders head coach Casey LaDuke.
“He’s a great coach,” says Meyer of LaDuke, who was the South head coach in the 2023 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association North/South All-Star Series. “He’s done a great job down there.”
Floyd Central won 53 games from 2021-23 and was ranked high in IHSAA Class 4A throughout 2023.
Growing up, Meyer’s favorite big league player was Big Papi.
“I idolized David Ortiz,” says Meyer. “The energy he played with was something I just loved as a kid.”
As a college pitcher, he marvels at Jacob deGrom and Spencer Strider.
“The adjustments that they make in-game is second-to-none,” says Meyer.
Max is the son of Dallas Meyer (married to Tahnee Meyer) and Sarah Millies (married to Matt Millies). His sister is Taylor Meyer (18). His stepsister is Brooke Miller (21).
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