Geoff Baker's Blog

has an continuation of the story about Juan Sandoval (WI '03) in this blog entry.

I promised you earlier that I'd tell you how Juan Sandoval, a pitching prospect who is blind in his right eye, did during today's bunt fielding drills. Well, I watched Sandoval on one of the side fields. On one attempt, he picked up a bunt toward the third base side, but dropped the ball before he could make a throw. He was made to repeat the drill and threw successfully to first for the out.

In another drill, making a "daylight'' pickoff move to second base, his throw was right on the money. My only concern came when Sandoval was standing on the side with some of the other pitchers. At one point, a coach flipped a ball underhanded towards pitcher Justin Lehr, who was standing near Sandoval.

Lehr actually had to reach in front of Sandoval's body for the ball. Sandoval did not appear to see him until the pair bumped into each other. It was a very minor, almost unnoticeable bump. But it's clear that Sandoval has an issue with peripheral vision that he will have to compensate for in other areas. He admitted as much to me during our interview sessions last week. Obviously, he faces challenges during his comeback. It will be interesting to see him pitch in tomorrow's intra squad game. All I can say is, he's one brave ballplayer and I think everyone in camp wishes him well.

If you want to wish 'Sandy' good luck, go to the post and e-mail Geoff Baker.