Uggla sees a second chance with Nationals

VIERA, Fla. - In June 2009, Dan Uggla hit his 100th career home run in his 502nd game, faster than any second baseman in Major League Baseball history. That season was right in the middle of a five-year streak where Uggla went deep 30 or more times in each campaign, making him the game's only second baseman to accomplish that feat.

But those days seem like ancient history for Uggla, who will turn 35 next month.

He has since been hit twice in the head by pitches, in June 2012 and in spring training 2013. His career went downhill fast after the first beaning, and Uggla never recovered. Last season, Uggla slashed a lowly .162/.241/.231 in 48 games before the Braves released him in mid-July despite still owing him more than $18 million from a five-year contract he signed in 2011. He hooked on with the Giants, but lasted barely three weeks before being released.

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo inked Uggla to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training about two months ago. Their history dates to when Rizzo, as director of scouting for the Diamondbacks, selected Uggla in the 11th round of the First-Year Player Draft in 2001.

Uggla never made it out of Double-A in Arizona, and after the Diamondbacks left him off the 40-man roster in 2005, the Marlins jumped in and selected him in the Rule 5 Draft. By the next season, Uggla was an All-Star. Sitting in front of his locker at Space Coast Stadium on Sunday, Uggla reflected on that first year in Miami, saying it helped him enter the proper mindset to approach this spring training.

"I've got to go in and win a job," he said. "I remember how exciting that was and how much fun I had doing it, and I'm looking kind of at that as the same situation as this. I'm excited about it. This is gametime for me. Coming in, spring training, getting ready, because I do have a lot to prove. I've had a rough last year and a half. I know that. I know what's going on. But I'm excited about the opportunity that's in front of me right now."

Besides the right attitude, Uggla may also be bringing a clean - or at least cleaner - bill of health. In August, a doctor in Las Vegas diagnosed him with oculomotor dysfunction, a condition possibly caused from being hit in the head both times a few seasons ago.

"In a simple way, with my head still, I'm able to see perfectly fine," Uggla said. "When my head starts moving around, whether I'm running or shaking around somehow, or landing on my feet different ways, my eyesight level dropped about eight or nine levels. It went from 20/15 to like 20/100."

Uggla said former major leaguer, Nats coach and friend Marquis Grissom reached out to him to suggest he see Dr. Robert Donatelli in Nevada. Donatelli had helped Grissom recover when he was suffering from similar symptoms a few years back.

"I was out in Vegas three days later," Uggla said. "I didn't have anything going on. If you want to try to help, I'll let you help. I told (Donatelli), 'I don't know if anything's going on. I hope I'm messed up, so you can fix me.' And sure enough, he said: 'Yeah, you're pretty messed up.' "

It wasn't just one type of pitch or one pitch location that Uggla was having difficulty seeing.

"It was basically all of them," he said. "It was one of those things where I would pick it up out of the pitcher's hand and lose it, pick it up again and play it. There was very little consistency going on to where you could really find a groove. Pitches that I guess (were) maybe front-door stuff, fastballs, changeups, anything really. I wasn't seeing it quite the way I was used to seeing it."

After going through several tests and exercises to retrain the ocular muscles, Uggla says he gradually improved. He now feels really good with his vision back to normal.

The roller coaster ride of the past few years definitely tested the nine-year veteran.

"It's not an easy thing to do, to be at a pretty high level and be competing the way you're used to competing, and then all of a sudden you struggle worse than you've ever struggled before in your life," Uggla said. "You work and you work and you work, and nothing's working. It was difficult, but you do learn a lot about yourself, you take it in stride and you just keep doing 'til you can't go anymore."

Yunel Escobar, acquired from the A's in a mid-January trade, is expected to be the Nationals' starting second baseman. On Sunday, a confident Uggla sounded like he believes he can make a comeback and fight for the position.

"They've expressed they need help at second base," he said. "They said it's kind of an open competition type thing. I'm all about open competition. I've always enjoyed that. So we'll see how it goes."

Manager Matt Williams is eager to see how Uggla fares in camp. Their history dates to when Williams was finishing his career in Arizona.

"I've known Danny for a long time, he was in the minor league system when I was still playing - that tells you how long he's been in the game, how long he's been a really good big league player." Williams said. "He works. He's a tireless worker. He's excited to be here. Veteran guys are excited to get through the camp part of it and get into games, and he's no different. He's got an opportunity with us and I think he's looking forward to it."

Maybe Uggla's eyes are now right and his once-shaky balance is now stable. Imagine if Uggla could revive his bat this spring. If so, Rizzo would like a genius for taking a flyer on Uggla and the Nats would have an infield loaded with guys capable of hitting 20-plus home runs.