Eye issue ends career
BUTLER TWP — Baseball careers end for a lot of reasons.
But because you can't see?
Such is the fate that fell upon Butler graduate and 2016 St. Louis Cardinal draft pick Mick Fennell.
Fennell, 25, has retired from baseball due to an eye disease known as Keratoconus, a thinning of the cornea. Approximately one of every 2,000 persons gets this disease.
Only one — Tommy Pham of the Tampa Bay Rays — is playing major league baseball with it.
“I just can't pick up the ball at night,” Fennell said of his hitting. “During the daylight hours, I see the ball fine.”
The final numbers of his playing career reflect that.
Fennell began the 2019 season with the Frontier League's Washington Wild Things. He played 12 games, hitting .171 with 10 strikeouts in 41 at bats.
“Mick would go an entire season and strike out maybe four times,” said Jay Fennell, his father and a longtime youth baseball coach. “I remember Rick (Mick's brother) and I watching him play a game for State College (in the Cardinals' system).
“It was a night game. Mick struck out a couple of times. I turned to Rick and said something's wrong. He just wasn't picking up the ball.”
Between spring training and his first at bat in regular season games this year — before it got dark — Fennell had 16 hits in 39 at bats, including four triples and two doubles. At night, he was hitless in 24 at bats.
“I tried four different types of eye drops in attempts to correct the problem, at least so I could play,” Fennell said. “It just wasn't working.
“We were playing a game in St. Louis earlier this season and there was a street light beyond the center field fence. It kept bothering me and I was striking out.
“I asked my teammates if that light was bothering them at the plate. They said they didn't even notice it. That's when I decided to give it up. I didn't want to hurt the team,” Fennell added.
One of the best hitters in California (Pa.) University baseball history, Fennell was a 22nd-round draft choice of the Cardinals in 2016. He hit .254 with Class A Peoria in 2017.
The Cardinals released him following that season. Fennell was with the Wild Things the past two years.
“Who knows how long this (disease) has been affecting me?,” he said. “The doctors aren't sure how long I've had it.”
Fennell had surgery on his right eye five weeks ago. Surgery on his left eye is upcoming.
He now serves as director of player personnel for the Hard Core Elite youth baseball travel organization based in Mars. Fennell also does clinics and provides private instruction.
“I'm always going to work in baseball,” he said. “And I love working with the kids, helping them to pursue their dreams in the game.
“Whether I'm coaching or scouting, the pro, college or high school level, I'll be in baseball for a long time. This game is a part of me and always will be.”
