Waechter returns for Jesuit’s late-season run
By Brandon Wright, Features Writer
TAMPA – Kaden Waechter started the at bat like all the ones before. Dug in, practice cut, just like all the ones before. The thousands he had taken before.
But it turned out to be anything like the ones before.
The Jesuit junior, in his first plate appearance of the preseason, swung at a backfoot slider with the count 2-2.
“I was just trying to foul it off,” he said.
Waechter did just that, staying alive in the count. But in the process, he also heard a sound he’d never heard before.
“It was two pops,” Waechter said. “And it was loud.”
Jesuit coach Miguel Menendez didn’t hear it. But he could tell by the way his rising star shortstop went down that it wasn’t good.
“Honestly,” Menendez said, “with the way it looked, I was fearing for the worst.”
Typically, that popping sound indicates the tearing of a major ligament, with the Anterior Cruciate being the mother of all bad knee injuries.
“I thought he tore (his ACL),” Menendez said. “It was pretty scary.”
As it turns out, the two pops Waechter heard may have been the best-case scenario in a terrible situation.
“My kneecap actually dislocated and then popped back into place and that was the sound,” he said.
After the swelling subsided, MRIs confirmed Waechter’s ACL was in place. He had indeed dislocated his kneecap and suffered damage to his Medial Collateral Ligament and Patella tendon, but the biggest scare was avoided.
“When I found out it wasn’t my ACL I was actually kind of excited,” Waechter said. “I originally thought my whole junior year was gone.”
That fear was alleviated last Thursday when Waechter stepped to the plate for the first time at home this year in a regular season game. And the crowd let him hear it, coming to life with a thunderous round of applause.
“I have honestly been thinking about that moment since,” Waechter said. “It was really cool to hear and shows you what kind of family we have here. I was pretty amped up.”
And all that was made possible only through a diligent physical therapy protocol. Waechter was receiving treatment three days a week at 6 a.m. for one hour at a clip.
But he never let the grind of rehab show.
“And I ended up coming back a week early,” Waechter said. “I was proud of that.”
But that’s Kaden Waechter. Setting an example. Leading through presence. Working as hard as possible.
“He never missed a practice when he was hurt,” Menendez said. “Never missed a game.”
The extra time away from the field even gave Waechter a previously unseen outlook.
“I really grew closer to my teammates in the dugout that aren’t on the field all the time,” Waechter said. “Especially the pitchers.”
But that’s what a captain does, right? That honor was bestowed upon Waechter prior to the season and those two horrible pops.
“He’s a leader on and off the field and that’s why he was voted (captain) as a junior,” Menendez said. “And that’s not something that happens very often around here.”
Despite missing nearly two months, both Menendez and Waechter agreed there is certainly a pronounced silver lining on this cloud.
“If he had to miss time, we definitely prefer to have him back at the end (of the season) when it counts, rather than having him in the beginning and losing him at the end,” Menendez said. “He’s such a huge part of what we do.”
Menendez said he thinks Waechter, one of Jesuit’s top two pitchers, will be cleared to throw this week. He hopes for an inning or two before ramping up for another playoff run.
“I was really bummed to miss the start of my junior season, but I’m so happy to be back in the heart of the season,” Waechter said. “My role as a captain is to pick people up and these guys did it for me when I was out. We have a lot of things coming up to look forward to.”
