SPRINGFIELD, Mo.– Former Drury Panthers baseball player and DU graduate Ricky Meinhold has been named the assistant pitching coach and Minor League pitching coordinator for the New York Mets.

Meinhold was a dual-sport athlete at Drury as he played baseball for the Panthers in 2007 and 2008 and was on the basketball squad for the 2008-09 season before graduating from DU in '09.  

 

As a baseball player, he was part of Drury's 2007 Great Lakes Valley Conference championship team that also advanced to the NCAA-II tournament. Meinhold still ranks in Drury's top 15 in all-time wins as a pitcher with 12, and his 84 innings pitched during the '07 season is tied for sixth-most in a Panthers single season. 

 

He started his professional baseball career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013, serving the organization as a scout, minor league coach, and pitching development analyst. Meinhold also joined the staff at USA Baseball in 2016, working in player development and evaluation.

 

Last year, the Mets hired Meinhold as their minor league pitching coordinator and now have given him the added role as an assistant pitching coach on their major league staff. He will work under Mets manager Luis Rojas and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner.

 

Since 2007, the Drury University baseball team has produced two players who have advanced to Major League Baseball, including Trevor Richards of the Tampa Bay Rays and Sterling Sharp with the Miami Marlins.

 

The Panthers are scheduled to start the 2021 season on March 6 against Maryville at US Baseball Park in Ozark. 

 

 

#MoreThanChampions