Eye surgery enables Gausman to focus on pitching

Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman can see clearly now and he's doing it without prescription glasses. He's regained his focus and his fashion sense.

Gausman underwent LASIK surgery at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute three days after the season ended. He's so happy with the results that he recommended it to teammate Darren O'Day.

"They're one of the best places in the country to do it," said Gausman, who is back home in Baton Rouge, La. "I was kind of skeptical, just because any time you have a procedure you never know how it's going to go, but I was amazed by how quick it went. It was like 10 seconds for each eye.

"The first day really sucked. You just feel like your eyes are on fire. But Darren actually had the same procedure a couple weeks after me. It was awesome. I see 20-15 now. I can see like a hawk. It's been great."

What was his eyesight before the procedure?

"I don't know," he said with a chuckle. "Not very good."

O'Day had worn contacts for years, but Gausman never grew comfortable with them.

"He talked to me and I was like, 'There's nothing to be afraid of,'" Gausman said. "It's super easy. The recovery is two days. It's about a week of, like when you first wake up and you go outside and it's really bright, and at night with the glare when you're driving kind of sucks, but now I'm two months out and it's been great."

Gausman no longer will need to wear his prescription glasses on the mound that he debuted in spring training in 2014 to combat being farsighted. Fans enjoyed the look. Gausman despised it, and the inconveniences almost bruised more than his pride.

"One of the times that I was like, 'OK, I need to get this procedure done,' was I had a line drive go like right by my head for a base hit, and I went back and watched the video and I didn't even react until the ball was getting to second base," Gausman said. "I was like, 'All right, I need to do something.'"

Contacts weren't an option for Gausman, who will break camp next spring in the rotation after going 4-7 with a 4.25 ERA in 25 games.

"I wore contacts in 2013 when I was pitching out of the bullpen," Gausman said. "I came in to pitch in a game in Cleveland, and my right eye is way worse than my left, so my right eye contact split when I was warming up. I had to take it out and I was just always worried about crossing up (Matt) Wieters. I didn't want that to be another thing that I was worried about."

The Orioles didn't push Gausman to undergo the procedure, but they didn't discourage him, either.

"Every time I saw the eye doctor, I talked to them about it," he said. "It was something I wanted to do last offseason, but never really set up a consultation appointment and stuff like that. It was something I wanted to get done because, honestly, I hated the glasses.

"If it was really hot and humid, which it always is in Baltimore in the summer, and I'm sweating more than normal, sometimes it will fog up. There's been times I've had to step off the mound and kind of let it air out so I can see. It's not safe."

Gausman feels like he's already got a win under his belt by losing the glasses.

"I'm excited that I won't look like such a geek anymore," he said.

"It's funny. I've had so many people be like, 'Oh man, you're not going to wear the glasses anymore?' Like they're upset. I'm like, 'It's such a bad look. What are you talking about? How could you like that?'"