This Bradenton baseball player turns blind eye toward disability, earns college scholarship

Hitting a baseball often is considered one of the hardest things to do in sports, and Aaron McDaniel was struggling at the plate after his family moved to Bradenton when he was a high school freshman in 2014.

Maybe it was the better competition in Florida compared to his native Colorado.

Maybe baseball just wasn’t the right sport for him.

It was neither.

McDaniel didn’t have depth perception in his left eye, which is the dominant — or lead — eye when batting right-handed, an eye doctor had told him.

“That made things more real for me, because I’ve always been able to adapt to the speed and the movement of the baseball up at the plate,” McDaniel said. “It’s never really been a problem in the field, because it’s coming on the ground, it’s slower and I can see it better.”

Now a senior at Inspiration Academy, McDaniel has signed to play college baseball at Cincinnati Christian University, an NAIA school.

“I’m just crazy blessed to have that opportunity,” McDaniel said. “Because I was skeptical at first. ... It was always my dream to get to the next level.”

McDaniel’s journey to college baseball came with potential roadblocks along the way.

Eye troubles

When he was 5 years old, McDaniel was diagnosed with amblyopia — more commonly known as lazy eye — a condition with “reduced vision in one eye caused by abnormal visual development early in life,” according to the Mayo Clinic’s website.

His left eye vision at the time was 20/200, which is classified as legally blind, while his right eye had 20/20 vision.

McDaniel, though, also started playing baseball at the time. From Thornton, Colo., which is just north of Denver, McDaniel didn’t let the disability affect his desire to play America’s pastime at a high level.

He worked and worked and worked at the sport, while receiving therapy and patching for his left eye.

The two-year daily therapy and patching program, along with his work ethic, led to improved results on the field in Little League and travel ball in Colorado.

Things were going well, before a family move to Florida changed the game again.

Adjusting to Florida talent

The McDaniel family arrived in the Sunshine State for Aaron’s freshman year. Aaron said travel ball was when he noticed a big difference.

“I was excited to come down here, because I was going to play baseball year-round,” McDaniel said. “But I was exposed to the talent here when I had my first season of travel ball. ... You’ve got the top players in the country down here on every good team. Just seeing that, players who are potentially on a D-I/major league level that you are facing right now, is nothing I experienced in Colorado.”

McDaniel said it was a constant struggle at first adjusting to how baseball is played in Florida.

After the first year, McDaniel, who attended Bradenton Christian, started to get prepared for the Florida style. However, an eye doctor had confirmed what was apparent through struggles hitting as a sophomore and junior — the latter year McDaniel deemed as his roughest.

McDaniel’s depth perception was nearly all gone, and it was too late to correct it through therapy, patching or surgery.

Vision program wonders

McDaniel transferred to Inspiration Academy in August 2017. For the first three months, Inspiration baseball director Mario Jimenez had no clue about McDaniel’s lack of depth perception in his left eye, which now has 20/70 vision.

“It’s pretty remarkable (he’s) hitting for 90 days without someone knowing what’s going on,” Jimenez said.

It was the fall, so it was the offseason for high school baseball and plenty of time for McDaniel, a second baseman, to get comfortable and earn a college scholarship.

Working within Inspiration Academy’s vision program helped McDaniel tremendously.

It’s a computer video program that has pitchers of all varieties from Division I college pitcher down to an average high school pitcher.

There are different levels, arm angles and pitch varieties. The video shows the pitcher winding up and delivering a pitch. Depending on the level, the video stops at either the ball right at release or all the way to the plate.

The person watching has to choose what pitch was thrown and whether it’s a ball or strike.

“I did that every day for countless hours,” McDaniel said. “It’s helped me throughout the season.”

Now McDaniel is wrapping up his senior season at Inspiration Academy with college baseball waiting.

It’s something he’s accomplished despite not having the same depth perception in his left eye as everyone else.

“It’s not an excuse, but I knew sometimes I’d miss a ball or something odd would happen ... it was my lack of vision,” McDaniel said. “I didn’t want to say anything, because I didn’t want them to look at me like, ‘Oh, he has an issue with his eyes. He’s not confident with himself.’ So I just had to brush it off and move on to the next play.”

Added Jimenez: “For the kid to be going through that and then refuse to make an excuse for it so much that to the point that if you’re struggling you’re not going to tell the coach even then? That’s the perfect out. At that point, you’ve got an out. You’ve got an excuse. He never used it.”

This story was originally published April 4, 2018 at 4:16 PM with the headline "This Bradenton baseball player turns blind eye toward disability, earns college scholarship."