On Thursday, March 15, Indian River senior and baseball player Thomas Veith received the best news he’s had in a long while. He was finally cleared to play the game he loves so much — baseball — after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament on the first series of his first regular-season high school football game last fall.
Coastal Point • FILE PHOTO:
Senior outfielder Thomas Veith was cleared to play baseball this year on March 15, after tearing his ACL last fall.
Veith underwent surgery in the fall and rehabbed his knee daily in hopes that he could return for the start of the baseball season. But still his doctors predicted that a mid-April return was most likely. Despite the odds, Veith was cleared a month early, which gives him a week to prepare for the Indians’ regular-season home opener against perennial baseball powerhouse St. Mark’s on March 22.
“It feels great to be back, Veith said.
“Being on the sidelines (during football season) was the worst feeling in my life. I was so depressed. I cried every night. I didn’t want to go out. But once I started to get going with my rehab partner, Phil (Townsend), I focused more on getting back to baseball,” Veith explained.
Veith went to the batting cages religiously throughout the winter and has been a fixture at the first two weeks of baseball practice, though mostly as a spectator.
But on March 19, four days after being cleared to play, Veith saw his first live at-bats in a scrimmage against Red Lion Christian Academy. And though he has yet to get his first base hit, Veith made contact on two at-bats and also drew a walk.
“These first two weeks I’ve been ready to play. I’m ready to get out there and do something, because I was starting to get fat,” Veith said jokingly.
“But as of right now I don’t have my swing. I didn’t do that well. I drew a walk but I also grounded out to second and popped out to the catcher, which is kind of embarrassing. But I was just glad to hit the ball.
“Those were my first live pitches except for the batting cages,” he added.
“But I think all that will take care of itself,” Veith said of the process of getting his swing back. “Soon, I’ll get to the point where I’m hitting the ball every time.”
Defensively, he is slated to play the outfield, which is where he played the second half of last season, after freshman infielder Cameron Travalini made the jump to varsity.
Veith played second base his sophomore and junior season but gladly made the transition to the outfield last year when Travalini made his own transition.
“I was actually the one that suggested the move,” Veith explained. “I’d never played second base until I got to high school. (He’d been a shortstop prior to high school.) “And I played there because that’s where they needed me.
“But when Cameron came up, it made sense to make the change because he’s always played second base,” he added.
And though Veith has been cleared to play baseball, he hasn’t been cleared to play the infield. Apparently, the rigors of playing the infield would put tremendous strain on his surgically repaired knee.
“Right now the doctors won’t clear me to play the infield because I don’t have too much lateral movement,” Veith said.
Currently and for the foreseeable future, Veith will wear a knee brace to help support his knee when he plays baseball. And even though his brace should protect him while he plays, Veith will have to be careful — especially running the bases.
“So far, the knee has been fine,” Veith said. “But I wear this huge brace that runs from my quad to my calf, and it kind of reminds me that I can’t go too far with it.”
“He’s wearing a knee brace now and it will take some time to get used to, but that is something that he’ll have to work to overcome,” Indians head coach Howard Smack said.
Sliding feet-first into bases could aggravate the injury. But after all his hard work during rehab, Veith claims to have regained the speed that made him a running back last fall. So he may not have to slide too often – especially once he gets his timing back in his swing.
“I actually think I’m faster than when I was timed at 4.6 (seconds in the 40-yard dash),” Veith said. “I’ve been working on my speed with Nick Kmetz in the off-season and that has helped out a lot.”
Veith’s return to the Indians has given his teammates a sense of relief. And it has given him a chance to help his team continue with the success that they’ve had over the last couple of years as a senior.
“Tom can play anywhere,” fellow senior outfield Josh Sweetman said. “He’s fast, quick and has a great arm.
“We’re glad to have him back,” he added.
“I just want to be like the other seniors and go out and have a good season,” Veith admitted. “I want to win the Southern Division.”
The Indians have won the Southern Division the last two seasons, in fact.
And even though Veith has made an incredible recovery to return by the start of the baseball season, he is still awaiting for additional clearance to surf.
Veith stayed away from football his first three years of high school to keep his schedule clear to surf hurricane swells. And the last time he’d surfed was Sept. 2 of this past year — an eternity to those who run to the water like children every time a swell kicks through.
“Oh, my God, I missed the whole hurricane season,” Veith exclaimed. “But my doctors say that I should be able to get back into the water sometime around Easter vacation.”
And despite missing head-high surf sessions from time to time, Veith doesn’t regret playing football or the injury that sidelined him.
“The (football) coaches came to me and told me that I may regret not playing football my senior year to go surfing because I can surf for the rest of my life,” he recounted.
“And they were exactly right,” Veith added.
“Thomas takes what life throws at him,” Smack said of Veith.
“Football brings a mental toughness and, in effect, that is one more ingredient that he has (now),” Smack added.