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Tomorrow, he’ll be under the bright lights of Camden Yards, where he could be facing a stacked Texas Rangers lineup in some MacGyver-worthy, pressure-cooked, bases-loaded jam. But today, Cla Meredith wants to face nothing scarier than his newborn daughter’s diapers. While his team, the Baltimore Orioles, enjoys a day off, Meredith has retreated to his Richmond, Va. home for some much-needed quality time with his wife, Natalie, and their five-month-old daughter, Adellyn. It’s a rare treat for a guy who spent the last 3 ½ years playing with the San Diego Padres, 3,000 miles away from his friends and family. A Richmond native and VCU alum, Meredith is happy to be back on the East Coast. “It’s all I know,” Meredith said. “It’s all I want to know. Even when I went away for the summer, even to San Diego to play, It’s a beautiful city, but mentally, it always felt temporary. It never felt like home. This is home.“ With some free time on his hands, the right-handed pitcher decides to ‘swing by’ VCU on his day off. Meredith saunters into the school’s Sports Medicine Building with a fussy Adellyn cradled in his left arm. After one false diaper alarm, the doting new father settles into a chair and speaks with uncommon ease. Recently traded from one struggling team, the Padres, to another, the Orioles, Meredith will spend the next month playing semi-meaningless games as the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays battle for supremacy in the ultra-competitive American League East. None of this bothers Meredith today. As a new father, he’s learned to cherish his time away from the ballpark. “I love my job. I enjoy being at work, but I can’t wait to get home,” Meredith said of his daughter, who was born March 8. “Even if she’s just sleeping in her crib, I just want to be at home now. Sitting at home on the couch and relaxing with the family is just a whole other ballgame. She means more to me than anything in the world.” Despite his career stops in Boston and San Diego, Meredith says he has no desire to leave Richmond. In addition to maintaining a home in the city, he often trains at VCU and is a fixture at many Rams’ Men’s Basketball games. “This is where I want to raise my family,” Meredith said. “This is where my wife and I plan on keeping our home. My wife didn’t even go to VCU. She loves going to those basketball games. She loves Richmond. It’s just home.” Earlier in the day, Meredith made a point to stop by the VCU weight room, where he visited Strength and Conditioning Coordinator Tim Kontos. Despite his major league status, Meredith still spends much of his winter training at VCU with Kontos, who has worked with the pitcher since 2002. VCU and the city of Richmond have shaped the 26-year-old Meredith, and he couldn’t be more grateful. “The people that are here are the people that I care about,” Meredith says. “I don’t necessarily feel like I owe anything to anybody here or at this university, but I’ll tell you, I have a lot of gratitude and a lot of appreciation for a lot of the people around here. The coaches, some of my professors, I had an incredible amount of people on my side.” However, if there’s one thing in baseball that is always in demand and highly fluid, it’s relief pitching. It’s rare for a reliever to spend his entire career, or even a large chunk of it, with one team. That means Meredith’s stay in nearby Baltimore is likely temporary. Either way, he’ll take it in stride. “Baltimore is a place I’d like to play for a while, but I’m prepared no matter what.” In the meantime, he’ll enjoy these rare in-season jaunts to Richmond and the comfort level Baltimore affords him. “I’m not complaining. I’ve got a pretty good gig and I’m fortunate,” Meredith said. “Baltimore is a lot like Richmond. It’s a blue-collar city. It’s a town that’s only three hours away and got a lot of similarities to Richmond. To play in a place where you can look up in the stands every night and see a familiar face, it’s invaluable. Questions or comments? E-mail us at aroundthehorns@yahoo.com or look us up on Facebook. |
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THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME FOR MEREDITHAll rights reserved.
