Healthy Kier Meredith's Ready To Go
During his two seasons at Clemson, Kier Meredith has faced more than his share of adversity, more than most guys face their entire careers.
He has spent more time rehabbing injuries than he has on the baseball field.
"A lot of work with (athletic trainer) Travis (Johnston) and the training staff," Meredith said." We ran in the water a lot. Just a lot of stretching and a lot of strengthening of the quad and just lot of running on the treadmill."
Coming out of high school, Meredith was a top 100 player and expected to make an instant impact on the program. Instead, he has dealt with multiple injuries, costing him most of his first two seasons as a Tiger.
"It’s been frustrating, definitely," Meredith said. "But I’ve kind of just learned to take things in stride. You’re going to deal with ups and down in life, and so I just had to just keep pushing. But it’s definitely been frustrating."
Now, Meredith says he is finally fully healthy, and ready to go. The hope is that he can stay that way, and Meredith is doing everything he can to ensure that happens.
"I haven’t really changed the preparation as far as the workouts go," Meredith said. "I’ve definitely put a lot more working time into the rehab aspect of things. A lot more stretching after practice. A lot more recovery, a lot more icing my body down, and getting to the highest level before games. Just trying to stay loose, get loose, stay loose, and try to recover well."
Meredith is one of the fastest guys on the team and is seen as a player who can provide a spark at the top of lineup. He is capable of creating havoc on the base paths, and setting the table for the bigger bats in the middle of the lineup.
"I think I could just be a spark plug and bring some energy to the dugout. Just get rallies going, get guys going," Meredith said. "Just bring a lot of energy."
Despite not seeing much time on the field, Meredith still sees himself as one of the leaders on this team, and as one of the players who could viewed as a face of the team.
"Absolutely, I feel like I can lead guys well." Meredith said
Head coach Monte Lee knows what Meredith brings to this team. Having that kind of speed at the top of the lineup gives the coaches a lot of flexibility.
"Kier’s an above average runner," Lee said. "And he’s got great instincts on the bases. He looks really good right now. We’ve got to manage his workload. Again, we’re keeping our fingers crossed so we can keep him healthy. And so far he looks really good in the early going."
This baseball team is much better with Meredith in the lineup, than it is without him. It will be imperative that the coaching staff make every effort to keep him healthy in 2020.
"So a big part of what we’ve got to do with him," Lee said, "is we just got to make sure that on the days we’re not playing, that we take care of him, and that we monitor his workload a lot. Because he’s been putting a lot of effort into his practices. He’s trying to get game ready. And he’s running 100% right now. And he looks really good doing it. So a big key for us is just being able to communicate with him and manage his workload to keep him on his feet where he can play for us."