Sad News Out Of Philadelphia, Phillies Prospect Loses Eye During Training Exercise

2014 Second Round Pick and current Clearwater Thresher, Matt Imhof has unfortunately lost his right eye after a freak training accident.

According to Matt Breen of Philly.com, “The pitcher was struck in the face by a resistance band that was anchored to a wall. The mounted base broke off the wall and damaged Imhof’s right eye. He had surgery at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami to replace his eye with a prosthetic one. His agent said there are more procedures to come.”

Imhof looks to be in good spirits after his instagram post.

As many of you know on Friday June 25th I had an accident. A large price of metal hit me in the head/eye resulting in a fractured nose, 2 fractured orbital bones, and most significantly, the loss of vision in my right eye. I was immediately taken to the ER and then transferred to Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, the #1 eye hospital in the world. That night, the doctors informed me that the damage to my eye was extreme and essentially that my eye had been crushed like a grape. The doctors told me they were going to do everything possible to reconstruct it but in all likelihood I would never regain sight in my right eye. The first surgery was somewhat a success but overall nothing had changed, so after discussions with my family and my doctors, it was decided that the best chance I had to live a normal life was to have my right eye removed and have a prosthetic one put in. This decision was not an easy one to make but to me it seemed like the right one so on Tuesday afternoon I went forward with the surgery. I'm currently still in Miami recovering from surgery but I'm doing well. This has been the hardest week of my life but I've had amazing support from my family and friends to help me get through it. For those who have been wishing me well, your support has not gone unnoticed and I appreciate everyone who has kept me in their thoughts and prayers. I had the best doctors in the world doing their best work on me and for that I am grateful as well. Although this injury has been tough it could have been much worse…I'm lucky to still have vision in my left eye…I'm lucky that i didn't have brain damage…and I'm lucky to be surrounded my the most loving and understanding people in the world. I just wanted to write this message to let everyone know that even though I suffered some bad luck, I'm not dead. I'm gonna be alright, I'm gonna persevere, and I'm gonna succeed. It takes more than this to bring me down. Again thanks to everyone for the support .

A photo posted by Matt Imhof (@matt_imhof48) on Jun 30, 2016 at 9:44am PDT

I definitely respect the hell out of this kid for doing all he can to avoid a pity party. What a terrible way for a career to end though. I guess it’s not as bad as having your left eye ripped out and eaten by a wedding guest on bath salts.