Christian Funk’s baseball future appeared to be bright.

A center fielder, he was fully recovered from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear to his right knee. College coaches were beginning to contact him to gauge interest to their universities. One school stuck out to Funk: Oklahoma State University.

In the 2016 fall season, Funk was eight months removed from surgery and OSU pitching coach Rob Walton traveled to Fresno, California, to see Funk play. Walton was impressed. OSU offered Funk a scholarship. Funk knew all he had to do was have a healthy and complete season and he would make the 1,515-mile journey to Stillwater.

Then it happened.

In a game in late March at West Hills Coalinga College, Funk started the game in center field. In the bottom of the fourth, a ball was hit into the left-center field gap. The left fielder, Eddie Pena, and Funk were running to make a play. To avoid collision as both approached the ball, Funk planted his foot and his knee buckled.

“I knew I had done it again,” Funk said.

Funk had torn his left ACL and missed the rest of the season. His future was uncertain.

“At that point, Oklahoma State had seen me,” Funk said. “I hadn’t signed anything, so it wasn’t official. All I had to do was play the season and I would be able to get to go to OSU. After I tore it, I got back to the dugout. I knew it wasn’t going to be good. Why would they take me? I’m no good to them.”

To that point, Funk thrived as an athlete. A three-sport athlete at Clovis West High School, he excelled as a quarterback, played on the soccer team and played shortstop. Funk had offers to play college soccer but chose baseball instead. Facing his second ACL injury in a year’s span, how would he react? Would this affect his future?

His father realized the injury happened at a time they were talking to schools to evaluate Funk’s future.

“It was a period of time of talking to schools and seeing what scenario was best for him,” Michael Funk said. “Of course, the opportunity at Oklahoma State was there. Here’s all that excitement and then the injury happens and then especially for him it is now wondering, ‘Am I going to have a place to play next year and if so, where’s that going to be?’ and with it happening in that recruiting period, it was very tough for him.

With the lingering thoughts of what Funk’s baseball career brought next, Michael Funk knew the recovery process Funk was no stranger to was going to be a test.

“The toughest thing really is seeing someone like him who has been active his whole life whether it was baseball, golf, soccer or even pickup basketball is now barely be able to do any of those activities,” Michael Funk said. “In regards to baseball, there was uncertainty of the recovery. He had put his whole life into baseball but now couldn’t be out on the field and couldn’t swing the bat. We were really unsure of how well he was going to be able to run coming back from surgery as well.”

His active lifestyle turned into an inactive lifestyle.

            “It was brutal sitting on the couch for months not being able to do anything,” Funk said. “The pain, going through rehab was awful and I never wanted to go because of it but you have to go.”

            Knowing his future depended on his will to go, Funk began to evaluate his rehabilitation and treatment process. Along with beginning to build more of a motivation to his process, he also had to make his college decision as he had exhausted his time and eligibility at Fresno City Community College.

            His will to work harder and his ability to do so came knowing an opportunity was there. His father said he had the options to go play at smaller schools, but when OSU coach Josh Holliday called, the motivation to take rehabilitation was becoming more serious.

            “A year ago, he didn’t know what to expect,” Michael Funk said. “When Coach Holliday called him and said I want you to come to Oklahoma State and we rehab that knee, we’re gonna have a place for you on this team, I think it showed him that this coach is invested in me, this program is invested in me so I (Christian) am gonna work my butt off for this team.”

            The stipulations were a little different after his second surgery. Funk would join the Cowboys as a preferred walk-on instead of a scholarship player. Still, Funk decided to pack up and head halfway across the country. He saw what he had in front of him before the injury. He also realized what struggles he would soon face moving to Stillwater to pursue a dream.

            “You show up and you don’t know anybody,” Funk said. “You don’t even know if you are going to make the team. It was tough knowing that I had a scholarship right in front of me and then something like that happens.”

            The second rehabilitation process was utterly different from his first. This time, he was not familiar with who was performing his treatment or even familiar with the town.

            As he arrived in Stillwater, Funk became close with two people; the baseball athletic trainer, Eli Williams, and his roommate, Matt Kroon.

            Williams had gotten word the team had signed a player with two ACL injuries. He knew he would need to evaluate Funk as soon as he got on campus to begin to develop a treatment plan.

            “I get a heads up and hear that he’s tore both ACLs, so you soon think, ’What do we have coming in here and what is going on with this guy?’ Williams said. “The fact that it was separate ACLs and that it was odd circumstances really helped me have more of a positive outlook on it.”

            After Funk arrived and met with Williams, the plan was simple. His treatment was going to be more urgent than most who come in with a knee injury.

            “With being a transfer, it changes the way we do it,” Williams said. “If it was a freshman, we may look at rehabbing slowly into a redshirt role. When we have a transfer that has a window closing rapidly like Christian’s and to fill a specific void in our lineup, I knew there was a little more urgency in his rehab process.”

            Funk arrived in Stillwater in July and participated in Summer Bridge, when incoming freshmen athletes can take summer courses and train with their new staff. Funk was an exception. Although he was a redshirt junior, Funk began his rehabilitation process with Williams during Summer Bridge. Funk said his first few weeks he took his treatment lightly until one night it finally clicked with him it was time to take it seriously.

            “I was with the incoming freshmen and we all got together and decided to go hit,” Funk said. “We get the HitTrax on and Jake Taylor is hitting 100-something off of the bat and then there’s me, a redshirt junior and I’m like I’m old enough to be the kid’s dad and he is hitting it twice as hard as I can. I got in my room that night and was like, ‘Am I really going to be able to do this’? That’s a freshman hitting it twice as hard as me and I can barely move. That’s when it hit me that it’s the real deal.”

            Realizing his lacking strength, Funk began to take his rehabilitation more seriously. Being from California, Funk did not have a car in Stillwater. He would frequently miss treatments because of his lack of transportation. Kroon realized this. He sat down and told Funk he could be good but he needed to begin to take things more seriously and show up for treatment.

            “We came to the agreement that if he needed to borrow my car in the morning to take my car or if you need a ride, wake me up and I’ll take you to treatment,” Kroon said. “I knew making myself more available to him because he didn’t have the means of transportation. I knew he wanted to be healthy. I saw how much he wanted to play. He needed help to get to where he needed to get and also needed a kick in the butt at times.”

            That kick in the butt fueled Funk throughout the fall and into the spring. Funk took on an early role as a designated hitter and transitioned into a first baseman. He wasn’t a fan of his new position but knew it was going to help his team tremendously. He ended up hitting .245 with 33 runs batted in. His infield coach, James Vilade, envisioned his agility was soon getting back to what he used to be.

            “I remember last year when we were in Iowa, I was talking to Jimmy V and he told me he wanted me to move to third base next year,” Funk said. “He told me I had to lose weight and also get my knees back to where they needed to be. I used that as motivation to do workouts harder and take things more seriously in my development.”

Envisioning himself back in a position where he once played, Funk spent the fall of 2018 working with Chris Sobonya, first-year strength coach, on improving his lower body strength to prepare for the move to third base this spring. It has included monitoring volume and reps but building endurance for the upcoming season.

            “The approach to any guy that is coming off of an injury is that you have to monitor the volume and workload of whatever we are doing,” Sobonya said. “His testing lets us know where he was and where he is today. He has improved since the fall. His ability to change directions, load the knee, to burst and create power from the knee. He’s more explosive and faster.”

            In the opening games of the 2019 campaign, Funk has started all 11 games, nine of which have been at first base and has two starts at third base. Funk is tied for second on the team in walks, which he has eight.

Funk feels normal again. He no longer worries about tweaks.  The only rehabilitation is his work ethic.

“I’m here,” Funk said.

“I might as well try to be the best I can be.”