Article content continued

Today, following off-season eye surgery, Tolleson’s vision is 20/15, an improvement over the normal 20/20.

He describes the difference as “dramatic,” especially when he times his swing against pitches in the batting cage.

Despite his vision problems, Tolleson hit .253 with a .308 on-base percentage in 109 games. He had only 189 plate appearances, but that was more than he had logged in parts of two previous seasons with Oakland and Baltimore.

“I know I’m capable of doing a lot better,” he said.

The Jays put his utility to good use. He played seven positions (including two pitching appearances in blowouts) and finished the season feeling a mixture of satisfaction that he had stuck in the majors for the first time and frustration that he did not do more with the bat.

Tolleson stops short of blaming his offensive shortcomings on faulty vision. He simply doesn’t know if that was the cause.

When the problems arose in June, he tried glasses for a few days, then switched to contacts. The contacts irritated his eyes to the point that he missed a couple of games because of blurred vision.

“We were hours away from me having to go on the disabled list and having the surgery in June,” he said. “Looking back, it would’ve been a bad move because the PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) procedure I had in November – they basically scratch layers of skin off your eye before they shoot the laser in – would have taken four to six weeks of recovery time.”