Matt Imhof loses eye in freak pregame accident

Philadelphia Phillies pitching prospect Matt Imhof, a second-round draft pick in 2014, lost his right eye late last week in a freak accident during pregame warmups.

Imhof, who was in his second full season with the High A Clearwater Thrashers, was hit in the face with a large piece of metal before a game on Friday. ESPN reports that a piece of equipment malfunctioned and Imhof was struck in the right side of his face, leaving him with nose and orbital bone fractures and a total loss of vision in his right eye.

In a lengthy Instagram post on Thursday, Imhof explained that his eye was “crushed like a grape” and that he decided to have it removed when doctors said he would be unable to regain his vision.

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

The 22-year-old Imhof has a career ERA of 3.69 in 173 innings pitched. You have to admire his outlook after suffering such a devastating injury due to a freak incident. Here’s hoping he can one day return to pitch again.