Meyers playing with renewed confidence
JUPITER, Fla. — Looking at spring training box scores can be an exercise in futility. In 19 plate appearances this spring, Jake Meyers has produced four hits, including just one for extra bases.
Obviously, those numbers in such a small sample size don’t show some of the solid contact Meyers has made this spring, and it definitely is unable to reflect the characteristic that could prove to be Meyers’ missing ingredient from the past 12 months: Confidence.
It was tough for the 26-yearold to carry some of that belief during a 2022 season that ended with the thrill of a championship, but also was filled with some discouraging signs for Meyers individually.
Meyers, who never was considered one of the Astros top prospects and even was left unprotected in the 2020 Rule 5 draft, splashed onto the scene in 2021. After terrorizing Class AAA pitchers, he got his shot when Myles Straw was traded to Cleveland at the deadline and quickly emerged as an apparent everyday center fielder, hitting .260 with a .761 OPS. However, he crashed into the wall during a playoff game against the White Sox and he’s been unable to duplicate those efforts ever since.
The brazen wall crash resulted in a torn labrum in the throwing shoulder that knocked Meyers out for the first two months of the next season.
When he did return, he didn’t appear ready with his once powerful throws from center field missing their usual steam.
Even with Astros manager Dusty Baker saying at the time that he thought his young center fielder needed more rehab, Meyers insisted his surgically repaired shoulder was ready to return to action. A year later, he doesn’t want to re-litigate the club’s decision to bring him back back possibly too soon.
“I don’t really have a comment on the past,” Meyers said. “That’s one of the things that I just wanted to make sure I worked on in the offseason, getting my arm right and getting it ready.”
The offseason was filled with a ton of work, not only to ensure the shoulder would no longer be an issue, but also working to improve his swing after striking out 54 times in 150 at-bats a year ago and seeing his OPS drop nearly 200 points to .582.
“He seems like his arm’s stronger ... he’s progressing,” Baker said.
Meyers put in enough work in the offseason that he added about 12 pounds of muscle, but he also got a small break of joy when he and his wife Maddie had their first child, Ava, in December.
The extra work, improved health and what he calls “a fun experience” of being a father all adds up to a renewed confidence on the baseball field.
“Absolutely, I had a great offseason just to focus on some stuff and get better and I feel like I did a good job of that,”
Meyers said. “I lifted, got better and focused on some of the things I can improve on.”
Baker says Meyers makes it tough for others to read his emotions, but he’s pleased to not see the frustration that had become apparent from his center fielder last season.
“He holds his cards pretty close to his vest,” Baker said. “You can’t always tell how he’s feeling, but you can tell when he’s frustrated. He usually has a smile on his face, because he’s a pleasant guy to be around.”
Meyers, who went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts in the split-squad Astros’ 1-0 loss to the Marlins on Tuesday, even has a smile on his face when talking about the team’s competition to be opening day center fielder. As Meyers struggled last season, Chas McCormick came on strong, starting all but one game in the postseason, delivering a couple big home runs in the American League Championship Series sweep of the Yankees, then starring in one of the best defensive plays in franchise history, jumping into the wall to rob the Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto of what could have been a World Series-turning extra-base hit.
“The way I see it is if I just control what I can control and show up and get better every day, things will take care of itself,” Meyers said. “That’s all I can say about it. Just work hard on myself every day, and it will all work out.”
matt.young@chron.com twitter.com/chronmattyoung
“There’s gonna be a lot more money than last year. … I think this March Madness and moving forward, it’s a whole new world we’ll live in, because now the brands are starting to realize college athletes are amazing influencers.” Casey Floyd, co-founder of NIL platform NOCAP Sports