Greenwood High senior Caden Davis put in the work on the baseball diamond to overcome an eye disorder that makes it difficult for him to track pitches.
Duane’s syndrome, an eye movement disorder he’s had since birth, limited the use of the left eye of this right-handed hitter. The five surgeries he’s undergone, the last one in middle school, helped add some movement for that eye. Signals from his brain to the nerves controlling his left eye muscles don’t have the same effectiveness as his right eye.
Davis told the Midland Reporter-Telegram that his left eye “only moves in, up and down. It does not move out at all.”
His left eye clearly wasn’t moving with his right eye when he was born, Davis said. He had to undergo surgeries to get it moving and lining up straight.
“It made it straight, but it doesn’t move very well, but it’s straight. That was what our main goal was with the surgeries,” Davis told the Reporter-Telegram. He was about to play in a West Texas March Classic game against Pecos at Greenwood High a few days before the state shut down spring high school sports because of the coronavirus.
Duane’s syndrome might have affected his left eye, but it didn’t stop the 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior from excelling on the pitcher’s mound. Davis is the Rangers’ No. 1 pitcher, head coach Stephen Rodriguez said.
The right-handed pitcher mixes up his two-seam fastball, a curveball and a changeup to challenge the batters he faces.
It’s not his pitching that worries his coach. It’s the comebacks hit straight at Davis.
“It’s the comebackers that kind of scare me. He’s made plays on some of them and he’s been like, ‘man, that got on me in a hurry,’” Rodriguez told the Reporter-Telegram. “But he’s made the play. There’s never any excuses with him.”
The high school senior told the Reporter-Telegram batting with his left eye front facing the pitcher get challenges. He turns his head farther to the left to give his right eye a better view of the pitch. Inside pitches are the hardest to see.
“When I’m up to bat, I can’t see the inner half very often, so I will take a pitch and I will lose it out in front of me a little ways. It just goes by me and I can’t see it,” he said to the Reporter-Telegram.
Practice and constant repetitions in the batting cage help him overcome his eyesight problems at the plate, Davis said.
“He works really hard. I wish we could have him a little bit longer, but I’m proud of him. There’s not enough good things I can say about him,” Rodriguez told the Reporter-Telegram.
High school baseball seems like a big accomplishment for someone with an eye problem when every facet of the game depends on great eyesight. But Davis isn’t done playing ball. He’ll continue as a pitcher at the University of the Southwest in Hobbs, New Mexico. He plans to major in criminal justice while playing ball for the NAIA program.
The support of his parents, Matt and De’An, and the Rangers coaching staff enabled him to reach his dream of getting to play college ball.
His advice to other athletes with Duane’s syndrome is simple and is good for any athlete.
“Put the work in. Hard work pays off,” he told the Reporter-Telegram.