Former Lodi High star Matt Fuson, who was a Sierra Baseball League All-Star for the GrapeSox this season has struggled with vision his entire collegiate career. Eye surgery partially corrected some of his vision problems, but he hopes to have an operation in the future to further enhance his eyesight. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)

Fuson's game starting to take off after recovering from eye surgery

Hall of Fame outfielder Ted Williams once said that hitting a baseball was the hardest thing to do in sports.

And if you are Lodi Grape Sox All-Star center fielder Matt Fuson, trying to hit, or even catch a baseball with just 20/100 vision along with plus-4 astigmatism proves to be nearly impossible.

Fuson, who starred for Lodi High in both football and baseball, plays his intercollegiate baseball at the University of the Pacific, where he will be a junior in the fall.

After a solid season as a freshman playing for Tigers' head coach Ed Sprague, Jr. in which Fuson drove in 18 runs on 47 hits while finishing with a .311 batting average, he struggled his sophomore year as eye problems began to take its toll and limited him to just 28 games played, half of them starts.

"After playing summer baseball in Hawaii before my sophomore year, I had Lasik eye surgery performed on me by Doctors Joe and John Zeiter at their clinic in Stockton," Fuson said. "The procedure went smoothly and my vision improved dramatically."

But his return to the baseball diamond did not go quite as well as he would have liked according to Fuson.

"I went into my sophomore year at UOP a little unsure of how I would do with my new eyes," Fuson said. "Due to the natural healing process of the surgery and getting used to seeing everything smaller, I struggled a little throughout the season."

While frustrated by the amount of time the healing was taking, Fuson said that both he and his coaches at UOP remained confident in his abilities and never doubted he would be able to bounce back eventually.

"My eyesight was better than before without glasses but not quite as sharp as when I had my glasses on. I continued to struggle at the plate and in the outfield as the season went on," said Fuson. "So I went in and told the coaches I was having trouble seeing the laces on the baseball. They understood and recommended that I go and get glasses again."

The advice from the Tigers coaching staff proved to be a godsend. Suddenly, he started playing like the Fuson of old.

"I felt like myself again. I could see small details and everything was very sharp and clear," Fuson said. "I had my confidence and swagger back, so to speak."

That confidence and swagger has carried over to playing center field for the GrapeSox this summer.

Fuson has been on a tear at the plate since just before the All-Star game in which he made two jaw-dropping, highlight reel catches in center field. Last Tuesday night against the Sacramento Legends, Fuson went 4-for-5 and drove in five runs to lead the Grape Sox to a 10-0 victory.

Still, according to Fuson, he may eventually require more eye surgery later.

"I talked with the doctors at Zeiter Eye Clinic about doing the surgery again later in my career to restore my eyes to about 20/20 or even 20/15 to help me see the details in the field to be able to play to the best of my abilities," Fuson said. "I appreciate all the work done by the doctors and also am thankful for the support of the coaches at UOP. One more surgery and I won't need glasses anymore."