azdad1978
Championship!!!!
By Jack Magruder, Tribune
Troy Glaus’ surgically repaired right shoulder has been a focal point this spring, but it is not the operation that Glaus considers career-changing.
That would be the laser work done on his eyes the winter before.
Obscured by Glaus’ incapacitating May 2004 shoulder injury was a start that would make his power-hitting frat brothers drool.
Glaus, the Diamondbacks’ new third baseman, had 10 home runs in his first 91 atbats — when pitchers are supposed to be ahead of the hitters — with Anaheim last season and was leading the American League with 11 homers and 28 RBIs when he suffered his injury during a swing May 11.
Of his eye-popping numbers, Glaus said simply, "I could see the ball."
Laser surgery corrected what doctors told Glaus was 20/400 vision in both eyes, with a stigmatism in each.
The operation took his problematic contact lenses out of the equation while putting him on pace for 60 homers and 160 RBIs.
"When I wore my contacts, if they fit right, I saw really well,’’ Glaus said. "But they fit right once a week, maybe twice a week at the most. This takes all the variables out. Now I see the same every single day.’’
Glaus said he has continued to notice the benefits this spring and has six hits and five RBIs in 14 at-bats.
Even while hitting a careerhigh 47 homers in 2000 and following that with 41 homers and a career-high 108 RBIs in 2001, he said he did not always have the best view.
"I could see the ball, but I couldn’t see spin or anything like that,’’ he said.
"There were different scenarios then, too. I was batting sixth behind everybody and getting a lot of fastballs. It started showing up more when I moved up the lineup and (was) pitched differently.’’
The D-Backs moved Glaus up immediately, placing him in the No. 4 spot in the batting order between Luis Gonzalez and Shawn Green after signing him to a four-year, $45 million free agent deal on Dec. 9.
"We’re excited about having him in that (No.) 4 hole,’’ D-Backs manager Bob Melvin said. "He is going to be a production guy. He has a history of it.’’
Glaus’ production dropped slightly when he came back early (Aug. 29) from shoulder surgery. He was used strictly as a designated hitter the rest of the year, and he finished the season hitting .242 with 18 homers and 42 RBIs.
Still, he averaged a homer every 11.5 at-bats and his Sept. 29 home run against Texas closer Francisco Cordero was the only homer Cordero allowed all year.
"That’s what I do. I’m a player. I’m not a rehaber,’’ said Glaus, 28.
"The reason I chose to have surgery when I did — I couldn’t throw then, either — was so I had time to get back and be a part of September and the playoffs. It was a long shot, but I made it back.’’
Some clubs, Boston among them, pursued Glaus with the idea of converting him to first base because of the shoulder issue, but he made it clear when being courted by the DBacks that he was much too young to consider a move at this stage of his career.
Like Glaus, the D-Backs are entering the season somewhat under the radar.
"Trying to go in stealthy is the better way to go, I think. You can sneak up on some people,’’ he said.
"But once we start playing, I don’t foresee us sneaking up on people. Scouting is such now that everybody knows what you are doing, and probably more than you do. They can pick us to finish wherever they want. The game is played on the field, not in a board room or a newsroom. We’ll see what happens out there.’’
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=37941
Troy Glaus’ surgically repaired right shoulder has been a focal point this spring, but it is not the operation that Glaus considers career-changing.
That would be the laser work done on his eyes the winter before.
Obscured by Glaus’ incapacitating May 2004 shoulder injury was a start that would make his power-hitting frat brothers drool.
Glaus, the Diamondbacks’ new third baseman, had 10 home runs in his first 91 atbats — when pitchers are supposed to be ahead of the hitters — with Anaheim last season and was leading the American League with 11 homers and 28 RBIs when he suffered his injury during a swing May 11.
Of his eye-popping numbers, Glaus said simply, "I could see the ball."
Laser surgery corrected what doctors told Glaus was 20/400 vision in both eyes, with a stigmatism in each.
The operation took his problematic contact lenses out of the equation while putting him on pace for 60 homers and 160 RBIs.
"When I wore my contacts, if they fit right, I saw really well,’’ Glaus said. "But they fit right once a week, maybe twice a week at the most. This takes all the variables out. Now I see the same every single day.’’
Glaus said he has continued to notice the benefits this spring and has six hits and five RBIs in 14 at-bats.
Even while hitting a careerhigh 47 homers in 2000 and following that with 41 homers and a career-high 108 RBIs in 2001, he said he did not always have the best view.
"I could see the ball, but I couldn’t see spin or anything like that,’’ he said.
"There were different scenarios then, too. I was batting sixth behind everybody and getting a lot of fastballs. It started showing up more when I moved up the lineup and (was) pitched differently.’’
The D-Backs moved Glaus up immediately, placing him in the No. 4 spot in the batting order between Luis Gonzalez and Shawn Green after signing him to a four-year, $45 million free agent deal on Dec. 9.
"We’re excited about having him in that (No.) 4 hole,’’ D-Backs manager Bob Melvin said. "He is going to be a production guy. He has a history of it.’’
Glaus’ production dropped slightly when he came back early (Aug. 29) from shoulder surgery. He was used strictly as a designated hitter the rest of the year, and he finished the season hitting .242 with 18 homers and 42 RBIs.
Still, he averaged a homer every 11.5 at-bats and his Sept. 29 home run against Texas closer Francisco Cordero was the only homer Cordero allowed all year.
"That’s what I do. I’m a player. I’m not a rehaber,’’ said Glaus, 28.
"The reason I chose to have surgery when I did — I couldn’t throw then, either — was so I had time to get back and be a part of September and the playoffs. It was a long shot, but I made it back.’’
Some clubs, Boston among them, pursued Glaus with the idea of converting him to first base because of the shoulder issue, but he made it clear when being courted by the DBacks that he was much too young to consider a move at this stage of his career.
Like Glaus, the D-Backs are entering the season somewhat under the radar.
"Trying to go in stealthy is the better way to go, I think. You can sneak up on some people,’’ he said.
"But once we start playing, I don’t foresee us sneaking up on people. Scouting is such now that everybody knows what you are doing, and probably more than you do. They can pick us to finish wherever they want. The game is played on the field, not in a board room or a newsroom. We’ll see what happens out there.’’
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=37941
