Phillies prospect Matt Imhof retires, shares inspiring story following freak eye inju

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Matt Imhof is ready for life after baseball after a freak eye injury ended his career. (@matt_imhof40 on Instagram) There comes a time when every professional player must consider life after baseball.*That reality wasn’t supposed to hit this soon though for Philadelphia Phillies pitching prospect Matt Imhof.
Imhof, 23, officially retired on Wednesday, seven months after losing his right eye in a freak training accident involving exercise bands.
Imhof himself wrote about his decision in a powerful and inspiring piece for ESPN.*In it, Imhof explains the impact that*split second of misfortune had on him, and how it’s not only ended his career, but reshaped his entire life. He also explains the process he’s*gone through to heal physically and emotionally, which helped him to transition from*aspiring pitcher to the next and most important phase of his life.
Here’s an excerpt:

I felt like the person who walked into that training room in Brevard County was not the same person sitting alone in this hospital room. Everything I thought I knew, everything I had planned for myself, was gone. Baseball, my future, my vision, all of it.
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I was scared beyond anything I’d ever felt because I knew what decision I had to make. I told the doctors to go ahead with both surgeries, the one to repair my eye and, if that didn’t work, the one to remove it. There was no going back, so I strapped in and told myself it was all going to be OK.
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Imhof admitted to feeling alone and depressed in the aftermath of his injury. There’s no shame in that, as anyone would need time to let such a traumatic experience sink in. He credits Dr. Wendy W. Lee, who performed his second operation, for reminding him that his life had only changed. Once that message resonated with him, he says, his outlook changed.

She looked at me and smiled, “Matt, the worst part is over. You survived.”
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She continued, unaffected by my silence, “You have suffered a life-altering injury, not a life-ending one. It may be hard for you to see right now, but you can still do anything you want. You can play baseball again. You can drive a car. You can even be a brain surgeon. Anything that was possible for you before the accident is still possible for you now.”
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Playing professional baseball will not be in Imhof’s future, but contributing to other aspiring pitchers careers will be. In fact, that’s already begun. Imhof is currently working towards finishing his degree in business finance at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He’s also currently serving as the undergraduate assistant pitching coach to the baseball program, which keeps the connection to the sport he loves wide open.

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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​

He says he doesn’t know if baseball or business will take top priority, or if there will be room for both. But he does recognize that he has a chance to make a difference, perhaps now more than ever since he’s not consumed by his own goals in baseball.
There’s more*to*Imhof’s story, which is well worth reading. You’ll undoubtedly feel his anguish, but you’ll also be reminded of the importance of picking yourself up and continuing on, even when it feels impossible.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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