[0]
Lookouts outfielder Cody Strait is one of the team's best hitters with
a .311 average. But at this time last year, Strait wondered if he would ever be a productive hitter after a bizarre eye injury on May 20, 2007.
[0]Cody Strait on 5/20/07
Said Strait, "It was a fast ball up and in. I swung, and it fouled off
straight off the bat, and straight into my eye. And I was wearing Oakleys. And it broke the Oakleys in half. And broke three bones around my eye.
And I had twelve stitches. Kind of a freak accident. Nobody has even seen that before."
It was a scary ordeal for the Lookouts outfielder.
"I'd say it was swollen up for three or four days, where I couldn't even open it at all. I was pretty scared at first because I wasn't real sure, whether I was going to see in it or not. Because right when it hit, the lights went out, and I couldn't see anything."
Strait admits it was tough stepping back into the batter's box after the injury.
"When I got in the games, I didn't even think I had a chance last year. Just from missing. Not playing those couple of weeks. And my eye the way it was, and being a little bit timid."
But you could say Cody is seeing straight again. He's among the team leaders in homeruns with five.
"Now, I don't even think about it anymore. It's back to 100 percent.
Just I know not to swing at those pitches up and in, that are balls."