At one point Dan Uggla was one of the best hitting second baseman in all of baseball. However that point seems long ago. Yesterday, Uggla came forward to diagnose the source of his hitting woes, claiming that he has vision problems including astigmatism, which may be resulting in his dramatic dropoff at the plate this season.
Uggla is hitting a mere .194 this season, which is well down from his career average of .250. That career average would be even higher without the poor 2012 season average of .220. He is still hitting for power with 13 home runs, but overall his OPS of .715 is well down from his career mark of .807. Uggla has also struck out 92 times, by far worst on the Braves.
Now some would chalk up the reduced numbers to a player aging, as Uggla is now 33-years-old. However Uggla gave another explanation on Tuesday.
“They told me I had a slight stigmatism in spring training but I was like, ‘Ah, whatever,’” Uggla said. “I guess now looking back I kind of noticed it last year. It was harder to focus, even on the field. This year I was just trying to battle through it, thinking, ‘Oh, it’s gonna come [around] like it always does,’ not thinking, ‘Maybe I’m not seeing the ball.’ But after bailing out on so many curveballs and taking so many front-door sliders and hanging sliders, I thought, ‘Let me go get this checked out because something’s not right.’ On video, the balls I’m ducking out of the way on aren’t really that close.”
Uggla is reportedly trying new contact lenses to see if this can solve his vision issues, but has said that LASIK (laser eye surgery) to correct the problem is an issue if that doesn’t work.
Considering how important vision is to hitting (picking up the ball, the spin, the location, etc…. ) there can be little doubt that if true, vision loss would have a major effect on Uggla’s stats. Now it will be up to him, and his doctors, to correct the problems and get back into the swing of things at the plate. That is if he wants to continue his big league career.
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