MERIDIAN — Christos Klutinoty would have loved to contribute to the Butler High baseball team the past two years.

His knee wouldn't let him.

A would-be three-sport Golden Tornado standout, Klutinoty was unable to play baseball his junior year because of a torn ligament suffered during basketball season.

He was unable to play basketball or baseball his senior year because he tore the same ACL in the final football game of the fall.

"Forget about sports. Those injuries affected every part of my life," Klutinoty said. "I couldn't even walk right.

"There's not a whole lot left in that knee."

But there's plenty left in Klutinoty.

Cleared to play baseball less than two weeks before the start of the 2009 Butler County American Legion season, Klutinoty batted .455 this year — 20 for 44 — for Meridian, leading the team with five home runs, 26 RBI and 13 extra-base hits.

He bats fourth in the lineup and serves as designated hitter for a team taking a 17-0 record into the BCAL playoffs this week.

"Through our first 12 games, he was averaging two bases per hit," Meridian manager Butch Master said. "He's just been on fire all season.

"He's hit three balls out of Pullman Park this year. That's impressive."

And that's without playing baseball for the previous two years. Klutinoty has been a productive fullback in football, a stellar 3-point shooter in basketball — and absent from baseball.

"I was a pretty good hitter for the junior varsity as a sophomore," he recalled. "I haven't been able to play since."

Klutinoty used to be a switch-hitter. Since returning, he's concentrated on batting from the right side of the plate, which is his natural side.

"No, I'm not surprised he's doing what he's doing," said his father, Jim Klutinoty. "Christos has been in the batting cage pretty much every day. His weight training has helped his muscle mass.

"It's hours and hours of swinging a bat at a baseball. That's the difference. Any parent of any good hitter will tell you that."

Never big into lifting weights before, Klutinoty has been doing plenty of it as part of rehabilitating his twice-injured knee.

"The rehab has definitely helped me in the power area," Klutinoty admitted. "I've never hit the ball with this kind of authority before."

Master played Klutinoty at second base for two games earlier this season, but pain in the player's knee necessitated the move to DH.

Klutinoty said his knee is healthy enough to play the field now, but Meridian's lineup is established.

"I had the knee drained two weeks ago," he said. "Since then, it's felt fine."

Meridian has 10 players batting over .300 with at least 20 at-bats. Tanner Master and Josh Miller are hitting .563 and .538, respectively.

The team batting average is .384.

"Christos didn't start playing baseball until he was 11," Master said. "When you factor in the injuries, he really hasn't played the game a whole lot. Yet, he's so locked in at the plate."

Jim Klutinoty coached his son in Little League and said he's always been a good hitter and a versatile athlete.

But athletics took a back seat once the torn ACLs occurred.

"It's been a terrible thing for all of us," Mr. Klutinoty said. "His sister, his grandmother — we were all affected by it.

"We've always had high aspirations for Christos in all the sports. Now we're happy just to see him healthy and getting on with his life."

It's a life that will continue to have baseball in it. Klutinoty plans to enroll at Butler County Community College this fall and play baseball there.

"Yeah, I wonder where I'd be as a player right now if I hadn't gotten hurt," Klutinoty admitted. "I'm still developing as a baseball player."