Greensburg alum Meyer changing diamond mindset

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Alex Meyer is in the third season of changing baseball minds at his alma mater.

“We came in and the program was struggling a little bit and we’re starting to see things heading in the right direction,” says Meyer, the 2008 Greensburg (Ind.) Community High School graduate, Indiana Mr. Baseball and former big league pitcher has been head coach for the Pirates program since 2022. “It’s taken a lot of time and a lot of hard work to establish a different mindset. They’re starting to buy in and believe they can play the game, too.

“We want to throw strikes on the mound, throw strikes across the diamond, catch the ball when it’s hit to us and put the ball in-play in the batter’s box. If you do those four things as the high school level, every game you should have an opportunity to win.”

Meyer, 34, is also emphasizing enjoyment.

“We’re just trying to make it as much for the kids as we can,” says Meyer. “If people are nervous and not having fun and walking around on eggshells it’s going to be really hard to find success in baseball. 

“We want kids to have confidence. We want them to have fun while they’re doing it.”

Greensburg (enrollment around 660) is a member of the Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference (with Batesville, Connersville, East Central, Franklin County, Lawrenceburg, Rushville Consolidated and South Dearborn).

The Pirates are part of an IHSAA Class 3A sectional grouping in 2024 with Batesville, Connersville, Franklin County, Lawrenceburg (host), Rushville Consolidated and South Dearborn. Greensburg has won nine sectional — the last in 2016.

Other teams on the 2024 schedule include Columbus East, Hauser, North Decatur, Oldenburg Academy, South Ripley and Union County.

Catcher/pitcher Gavin Owens (Greensburg Class of 2024) is committed to Indiana University Columbus and other current Pirates have shown an interest in college baseball.

Meyer’s assistants are Keegan McCamment, Kirby Dunagan and Collin Rigney with the varsity and Tom Mulig, Austin Schultz and Colton Williams with the junior varsity.

McCamment works with hitters, Dunagan guides catchers and coaches first base and Rigney oversees infielders. Meyer manages the whole program and coaches third base in games.

After a three-year stint at the University of Kentucky (2009-11) and six in pro ball (2012-17), including 22 games with the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels, Meyer coached in the Indiana Bulls travel organization.

He had the same approach as he does at Greensburg.

“It was about putting the kids first and making it about them,” says Meyer. “It’s what they need. Each team is different every year and you have to adjust accordingly.”

His first two years as a prep head coach, the 6-foot-9 right-hander would occasionally throw batting practice but he has left that to others so far this season.

“It’s not as easy as it used to be,” says Meyer. “I do not plan on doing that.”

The Pirates play and practice at an on-campus diamond.

Feeding the high school program are Greensburg Junior High School. Before that comes Greensburg Youth Baseball League — an organization where Meyer himself played growing up.

“Some kids stay local and some play travel ball,” says Meyer. “As long as they’re playing, that’s the biggest thing for us. We want to make sure they have a ball in their hand as much as they can.”

Alex and Kyra Meyer have three children — sons Roman (5) and Max (4) and daughter Renn (1). 

Both sets of grandparents live in town. David and Sandy Meyer are Alex’s parents. His father helping with the transition away from owning a Ford dealership and his mother is retired. Kristen is his older sister. Eric is his younger brother.

“Family has always been a big part for my wife and I,” says Alex. “We had good support systems growing up and we wanted to make sure our kids have the same opportunity.”

The Meyer family: Alex (holding Max), Kyra (holding Renn) and Roman.

Greensburg (Ind.) Community High School.

Meyer to keep college, baseball careers going at Embry-Riddle

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

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).

Max Meyer. (Rochester Honkers Photo)

Max Meyer. (Frontier Community College Photo)

Max Meyer. (Dave Tester Photo)

Max Meyer. (Dave Tester Photo)

Max Meyer. (Dave Tester Photo)

Max Meyer. (Dave Tester Photo)

Max Meyer. (Dave Tester Photo)

Max Meyer. (Dave Tester Photo)

LaDuke offers life lessons to Floyd Central Highlanders

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Casey LaDuke grew up around Floyds Knobs in southern Indiana and played baseball and football at Floyd Central High School.

Along the way he decided he’d like to be a head coach in one of those two sports.

The opportunity came first in baseball. After earning his Industrial Technology degree at Ball State University, LaDuke spent one year teaching and leading the baseball program at Springs Valley Junior-Senior High School in French Lick, Ind. 

Bill Pierce, his baseball coach at Floyd Central, let him know about a teaching and coaching opening at Floyd Central and LaDuke came home. After a few years as an assistant, the 1984 FCHS graduate has led the Highlanders on the diamond since 1999.

LaDuke also spent about 15 years on the Floyd Central football staff — most of those with Ron Weigleb, a man he had been a wide receiver, kicker and punter for as a player (LaDuke played one season at Kentucky State University before transferring to BSU, where he decided on an education path as a junior and graduated in 1990).

“He’s my big influence as a coach,” says LaDuke of Weigleb. “Some of the things he instilled into the football program we try to do with the baseball program — things like discipline, responsibility and keeping kids accountable. There’s more to it than just playing the game.”

It’s the life lessons that last.

LaDuke appreciated how Weigleb created a family atmosphere. When his coaches went to a clinic, the wives came along and everyone got close.

Dora LaDuke, a 1986 Floyd Central graduate and former Highlander athlete, died after a long battle with Leukemia in 2012 at age 45. Casey and Dora’s daughter, Sydney, is now a senior Elementary Education major at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany.

Floyd Central is in the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation (along with New Albany High School) and serves Floyds Knobs, Galena, Georgetown and Greenville. Locals like to say Floyds Knobs is on the “hill” overlooking New Albany in the “valley.”

Built in 1967, FCHS was formerly called Floyd Central Junior-Senior High School until the opening of Highland Hills Middle School in 2004.

Floyd Central (enrollment around 1,900) is a member of the Hoosier Hills Conference (with Bedford North Lawrence, Columbus East, Jeffersonville, Jennings County, Madison Consolidated, New Albany and Seymour).

Bedford North Lawrence, Jeffersonville, Jennings County and New Albany all have turf on their home diamonds. 

Floyd Central plays at spacious Highlander Field.

“It’s one of the biggest fields at the high school level,” says LaDuke. “It’s one of the best natural surface fields in the area. We take pride in it.”

LaDuke, his assistants and players have put in many hours maintaining the field.

“It’s my place to get away,” says LaDuke.

The FCHS sports complex includes two fields each for baseball, softball and soccer next to a stadium used for football and track and field.

Tennis courts are less than a mile away at the middle school, which has club baseball with two eighth grade squads feeding the three at the high school — varsity and two junior varsity teams.

LaDuke says 72 players signed up for fall activities. About 60 participated in tryouts this spring, leaving about 45 players.

The coach says the numbers going into tryouts were higher since cuts were not made prior to the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown and loss of season and many of those players came out again in 2021.

Highlander Youth Recreation sponsors baseball teams from age 5 to 13.

Floyd Central is part of an IHSAA Class 4A sectional grouping with Bedford North Lawrence, Jeffersonville, Jennings County, New Albany (the 2021 host) and Seymour. The Highlanders have won 13 sectional crowns — the last in 2015.

The 2013 squad was ranked No. 1 in the state. The Highlanders lost to Jeffersonville in the Bedford North Lawrence championship game.

Tell City, Fort Wayne Carroll, South Dearborn, Corydon Central, South Spencer, Owensboro (Ky.), Castle, St. Xavier (Ky.), Columbus North, Trinity Lutheran, Lanesville, Brownstown Central, Evansville North, Evansville Mater Dei, Providence, Seymour, Charlestown, Heritage Hills, Bloomington North, Bloomington South and Clarksville are also on the 2021 slate.

LaDuke’s main 2021 assistants are Floyd Central graduates Jamie Polk and Chris Hogan. With a hiatus as head coach at North Harrison High School in Ramsey, Ind., Polk has been with LaDuke since he took over the Highlanders. Hogan came on board about three of four years in.

Seniors Evan Goforth (Indiana University) and Casey Sorg (Bellarmine University in Louisville) have made college baseball commitments. Caleb Slaughter has drawn collegiate interest.

Tristan Polk is planning to attend Marian University in Indianapolis to play quarterback on the football team.

There are many recent Floyd Central graduates on college baseball rosters, including Philip Archer (Southern Illinois University), Alex Lozado (University of South Florida), Max Meyer (Indiana State University), Jon Cato (Bellarmine), Adam Spalding (Bellarmine), Joel Archer (Oakland City, Ind., University), Joe Harrington (Oakland City), Daly Skees (Hillsdale, Mich., College), Blake Barrett (Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Ill.) and Josh Gross (Glen Oaks Community College in Centerville, Mich.).

“I take pride in helping kids find schools,” says LaDuke.

He notes that college coaches — particularly at the NCAA I level — are reaching out to players at earlier and earlier ages while recruiting on the travel ball circuit.

Says LaDuke, “Coaches don’t like it, but that’s what their competitive is doing so they have to do it to keep up.”

Casey LaDuke

Former big leaguer Meyer giving back to game with Indiana Bulls

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

A dozen years after Alex Meyer donned the jersey of the Indiana Bulls travel baseball uniform as a player, the former big league pitcher is helping the organization as an assistant coach.

“I hope that I bring an extra set of eyes and somebody (Bulls players) can talk to,” says Meyer, 30. “I’m not too removed from playing. I want to help them through the recruiting process. I want to give them somebody they can trust. I don’t want them to think I’m giving them the run-around on anything.”

The Washington Nationals picked right-hander Meyer in the first round (No. 23 overall) of the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He made his MLB debut in 2015 with the Minnesota Twins and pitched for the Twins in 2016 before being traded to the Los Angeles Angels late in that season. He also pitched for the Angels in 2017.

Pitching coaches that worked with Meyer included Neil Allen and Rick Anderson with the Twins and Charles Nagy and Rick Honeycutt with the Angels.

“They were all great,” says Meyer. “The majority of the time when I was (in the majors) my coach was Charlie Nagy. He was awesome. He related to me really well.

“I was a nervous kid when I was up there. He put things into perspective and helped me quite a bit.”

While he had little interactions with Twins manager Paul Molitor, Meyer spent more time around Angels skipper Mike Scioscia.

“He’s another guy I loved,” says Meyer of Scioscia. “He’s old school. What he brought to the team was awesome. He was not afraid to jump somebody. He demanded things be done the right way. The way he went about it, I definitely respected.”

Meyer pitched in 22 big league games (19 starts) and went 5-8 with a 4.63 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 95 1/3 innings.

After retiring from pro baseball in July 2019, Meyer became a sales representative for BSN Sports and does much of his work out of his Greensburg, Ind., home.

Alex and Kyra Meyer have been married close to five years and have two sons — Roman (2) and Max (8 months).

Meyer’s BSN manager is Quinn Moore, who coached him during his 17U and 18U travel ball seasons with the Indiana Bulls — before and after committing to the University of Kentucky.

Moore asked Meyer to help with the Bulls this fall and plans call for him to coach within the organization next summer.

Meyer is a 2008 graduate of Greensburg Community High School, where he played baseball for Pirates head coach Scott Moore. He played basketball for two seasons each for Keith Hipskind and Stacy Meyer and earned all-Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference honors three times as a forward-wing type of player.

“(Moore) made it fun,” says Meyer. “He kept everything loose. It was a very, very enjoyable place to play.

“(Hipskind and Meyer) had a huge impact on me. They had different styles, but very good things, Coach Hipskind was kind of an old school and tough. I like the way he went about his business. He wanted to get every ounce out of his guys that he could. Stacy had a little bit more of a modern approach but was still hard on us. He demanded excellence. He could really break down a team and help you prepare.”

As a Greensburg senior on the diamond, Meyer went 8-0 with a 0.95 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 51 innings. He was named Indiana Mr. Baseball and the Indiana Player of the Year by Gatorade and Louisville Slugger.

He was selected in the 20th round of the 2008 MLB Draft by the Boston Red Sox, but chose to wait on his professional and played three seasons at Kentucky (2009-11).

“I was young,” says Meyer. “I needed to go to school. I needed to learn how to be on my own a little bit and to grow as a baseball player.”

He grew in the game while also adding three inches to his stature in three seasons. He was about 6-foot-6 when he left high school and 6-9 at the end of his college days.

“It was about an inch every year,” says Meyer. “It kept me busy trying to stay accustomed to my body to try to learn how it moved.

“Being tall, you want to use that to your advantage. You want to have that good plane on your fastball.”

He pitched from a three-quarter arm slot at Kentucky and was a lower three-quarter at the end of his pro career.

With Gary Henderson as his head coach and Brad Bohannon his pitching coach, Meyer appeared in 39 games for UK (36 as a starter) and went 13-12 with a 4.73 ERA and 253 strikeouts in 211 2/3 innings.

Meyer says standing on the mound for the Wildcats and facing batters in the Southeastern Conference helped him develop mental toughness.

“I had to learn how to deal with a little big of failure and stay positive,” says Meyer. “That was a huge part of it for me.”

Ride Along With Alex Meyer (Angels Weekly Video)

Alex Meyer, a Greensburg (Ind.) High School graduated pitched in Major League Baseball with the Minnesota Twins followed by the Los Angeles Angels. (Los Angeles Angels Photo)