Oculomotor Dysfunction and Dan Uggla

This blurb appeared on the MLBTradeRumors.com site yesterday afternoon:

"Dan Uggla is confident in returning to his former self after being diagnosed with oculomotor dysfunction (poor motion vision when moving the head or body), which was caused by being hit in the head by a pitch on two separate occasions. After a two-week exercise regimen, doctors have declared the second baseman’s motion vision normal."

I confess that I had two immediate thoughts:

• Really??? (as in: the skeptical/non-believing “really?”)
• Two weeks?  But there’s 3 years of fail to fix.

Then the next question hit:  “is this a real thing?”

A Brief Look at Oculomotor Dysfunction

First off:  it is a real thing.  Let’s look at a few descriptions of the problem:

"Oculomotor dysfunction involves a lack of efficient eye tracking skills. This means that your eyes are not well coordinated to make a variety of challenging eye movements. This involves the ability to stay fixated on a target without wavering, small micromovements known as a saccade, and being able to smoothly pursue a moving object. A saccade is a fast [“jerky”, according to m-w.com] micromovement of the eyes where they jump in the same direction as is common with reading activities. While there are no muscle deficiencies or neurological damage, oculomotor dysfunction involves a functional or developmental visual problem.  source."

Here’s another, more technical definition:

"A sensorimotor anomaly of the ocular motor system where the characteristic feature is the inability to perform accurate and effective ocular pursuits, saccades, and fixations.  source."

This latter source – from the American Optometric Association – includes a list of signs and symptoms, which include the following:

1. Loss of place and/or omission of words when reading (this seems to be a key symptom)

2. Difficulty visually tracking and/or following objects (like…90 mph baseballs?)

3. Poor academic performance

4. Reduced efficiency and productivity (I won’t even go here…um, yet)

5. Poor attention span/easy distractibility

6. Muscular incoordination (like swinging bats, fielding?)

7. Vertigo

8. Motion Sickness

In addition, they note the following, more-specific diagnostic findings:

1.  Reduced accuracy of ocular pursuits and/or saccades

2. Difficulty separating head/body and eye movements

3. Difficulty sustaining adequate pursuit or saccadic eye movement under cognitive demands

4. Inability to follow targets in proper sequence

5. Need for tactile/kinesthetic reinforcement while performing ocular motor activities

6. Inability to adequately sustain fixation/erratic fixations

7. Increased time required to perform tasks dependent upon saccadic eye movements

Yep – all of those things would make it difficult to play baseball at a high level, for it means the eyes are not ‘steady’ and that forces the brain to “guess” a lot – as in what you’re looking at, what’s happening with objects in motion, and how quickly the body will react to visual stimuli.

Reaction times will be slower, including with hitting, fielding… everything.
 

Next: Braves Farm System: Back to the Future?

So How Do We Know Dan Had this Problem?

At this point, all we really have is the word of his agent.  But the word is that Uggla visited a specialist – in Las Vegas, of all places – and the report is that “when Uggla moved his head or body, his vision was 20/100.”

Mar 2, 2014; Dan Uggla (26) works out prior to the game against the Detroit Tigers. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

You will recall that Dan had a Lasik procedure performed in August 2013 to correct what was believed to be simple vision problems.  At the time, he noted to reporters that “it almost looked like there were two pitchers standing on the mound.”

Given the revelation of this Oculomotor Dysfunction (OD), that particular quote should raise a red flag.  Lasik isn’t used to treat double-vision.  Whether he then was able to see more clearly (as he reported) or not, double-vision is a whole ‘nother issue.  And that does suggest that OD could been involved.

At the time, we were all wondering when Dan would get his timing back – he mentioned that he still knew there were other issues – fixing his swing, etc.  Obviously, that never happened on its own.

It has been suggested that Dan picked up OD from two separate pitches several months apart – both head shots.  One was reported to be in June 2012 and a Spring game in 2013.  Detailed records of Spring encounters are not available, though there is a report from July 26, 2012 that Uggla had been hit two days before – which would have a July 24th game in Miami. Atlanta won that game 4-3, with Tim Hudson getting the win.  ESPN’s recap did not mention the HBP on Uggla, but it is noted in the play-by-play: Chad Gaudin threw the pitch.  But this note from that prior source:

"The seventh-inning pitch clocked him on the ear flap of his batting helmet, and the red area behind his left ear was visible when he took the field in the bottom of the inning. Manager Fredi Gonzalez wisely kept Uggla out of the starting lineup for Wednesday’s day game. Whether Uggla begins to experience concussion-like symptoms or not — and he hasn’t as yet — the incident gives Gonzalez an excellent reason to give Uggla and his .213 batting average time off."

Ah yes – he was already hitting badly at that time.  Not “.180 badly”, but bad enough.  At this point he also had just 12 homers and 46 RBI.  But that was a time in which his OBP was still in the mid-.300’s (.349 after that day).

In August 2012, Uggla hit .207… but that was after a horrible stretch of .160 in June, .115 in July.  He then rebounded to .282 over the final month of the 2012 season.

So if there were any early signs of OD in 2012, the evidence certainly did not exist from the baseball field – he actually played better after getting whacked.

2013?  That was another story.  Only a single month above .200.  So if you’re going to blame any HBP – it would be that Spring beaning.

The Prognosis

Given the literature on the subject, this writer certainly cannot dispute the findings – Dan Uggla probably did have an OD condition of sort ilk.  But my call is that it made a bad hitting into a terrible hitter.  Perhaps with clear and steady eyes, he can return to some useful form – unfortunately while playing for the Nationals.  But that will likely require some time… and his ceiling is still probably only .230-240, though a fix to OD would also make him a long-ball threat once again.

Here’s my question, though:  how come this wasn’t picked up by the Braves’ doctors?

Apr 1, 2014; Brewers’ Carlos Gomez (27) steals 2nd base as the ball gets past Dan Uggla (26). Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The answer could come in multiple parts:

• We don’t know if they were even aware of the existence of this kind of problem
• We don’t know how much or how well Dan mentioned vision issues to anyone (professional athlete are notoriously bad in confessing things they could keep them off the field of play)
• We don’t know that anyone put 2-and-2 together about being hit by a pitch and the possible ramifications of such an event.  Trainers are concerned about concussion events – but normally would not be looking for this.
• Dan’s performance seemed to simply be continuing a downward spiral…
  • .260 in 2008
  • .243 in 2009,
  • .287 in 2010 (the lone anomaly that got him paid),
  • .233 in 2011,
  • .220 in 2012,
  • .179 in 2013.
• A distinct downward trend with 1 lone exception.

Bottom line:  I sincerely hope his eyes are indeed fixed – I do like the man/the player – but I am also not expecting a .240-260 hitter, either.