Summer work gets Meyr to Missouri

Traveled the Midwest, played a lot of baseball and secured a Division I offer.

Meyr, a senior at Jackson, played baseball this past summer for Jerry Daniels' Rawlings Prospects, a select team out of St. Louis that played at tournaments in Fayetteville, Ark.; Dallas; Wichita, Kan.; West Lafayette, Ind.; Lincoln, Neb.; Mobile, Ala.; and Columbia, Mo.

"I think the most I was home this summer was Monday to Wednesday," Meyr said Friday afternoon.

All the travel and the summer ball paid off. Meyr signed a letter of intent this week to attend and play baseball at the University of Missouri.

A starter at Jackson since his freshman season, Meyr has made his mark with the Indians' baseball program. As a sophomore, Meyr led the team in hitting and drove in the go-ahead runs in the the Indians' district championship win against Poplar Bluff in that 2005 season.

"He has been solid for us for the last three years," Jackson coach Rex Crosnoe said, "and he's been a leader both on and off the field. He has tools we can't teach with his arm and the speed he has. He's strong in the classroom as well.

"He has worked his rear end off since he was a freshman, and I'm happy for him and his family. He's getting rewarded for all the hard work."

Meyr's journey that led to signing with Mizzou, an NCAA tournament super-regional participant last year, began just after Christmas last year when he attended a camp at the school. He met Daniels there and was invited to join the Prospects, which annually produces a number of players who sign college offers or are selected in the pro baseball draft. The team plays in Premier Baseball, an association with 15 other select organizations around the country.

"A Legion team is all the good players from a few high schools; this is like taking the best players from every school in the state to get 20 guys," Meyr said. "Instead of seeing pitchers who throw in the 70s or 80s, you see high 80s to low 90s all the time. There's probably more pressure because you know the scouts are there to look at you every tournament.

"Summer is huge in this process. The colleges don't really recruit during the high school season because that's when they're playing."

He said he hit better than .400 with the Prospects.

"I had a pretty good summer," he said. "I guess I impressed some people."

Meyr considered Arkansas and Alabama-Birmingham before settling on Missouri.

He already has gotten used to the idea of a position change. A shortstop at Jackson, Meyr spent some time in center field for the Prospects.

Crosnoe said Meyr, who will hit anywhere from first through third in Jackson's lineup this spring, has versatility with his bat and his speed for a college lineup as well.

"I can see him being a gap hitter, hitting doubles and triples and playing a solid defense for you," Crosnoe said.