John Raffel
Sports Scene
Alma senior Konner Vedrode is in his fourth and final year of varsity baseball action, and is happy to announce that he’s having his best season.
He’s coming off a knee injury but hasn’t shown too many negative effects from it. He tore his meniscus from the football playoffs. He played basketball and then had surgery on it the day after he finished the hoops season. He missed a part of the baseball season. As of mid-May, he figured he was around being 100 percent fine.
“Against Freeland, I went 4-for-5,” he said. “I had eight RBIs that day. I had a pretty good day against them.”
Vedrode, an all-conference baseball selection, has been playing shortstop.
“I have really good range,” he said. “I’ve always been a shortstop. But I have filled in whenever we didn’t have somebody. I’ve played pretty much every position. Primarily, it’s been shortstop. But I can play wherever they need me.”
Vedrode usually has been batting in the .300s during his career.
“Maybe it’s been a little higher this year,” he said.
Vedrode prides himself on being both a power and contact hitter.
“I guess it depends on the situation is,” he said. “There are times when I go up there trying to slug it and there are times I know I just have to put the ball in play.”
As a hitter, “I have the mechanics and the swing and I see the ball well,” Vedrode said. “I have a good swing at the plate and I can hit it all over the field. I wait for my pitch and am ready whenever I get it.”
Like all baseball players, Vedrobe is hoping his team starts playing its best when the postseason arrives.
“We started off 8-0 and then we dropped quite a few in a row,” he said. “But now we’re getting back on our feet. We have two wins (against Chesaning). We’re getting back with Ws. We’re getting back on pace.”
Of the four Alma baseball teams he’s been on, “we definitely have the best chemistry,” he said of the 2017 squad. “We’re the team that has the best chance to do something.”
He’s played football, basketball and baseball. He indicated baseball has been his best sport. He wants to join the military and will decide later on college.