TAMPA – Pitcher Jason Johnson has been limited to indoor work due to being diagnosed with cancer of the retina in the right eye shortly before reporting to camp with the Yankees.
“I went to the eye doctor to get a new pair of contacts and they found it,” said Johnson, who is in camp on a minor league deal. “They sent me to the Wills Eye Institute in Philly. It’s supposed to be the best in the world. Only 2,000 people a year get it. They put a radiation plaque on my eye for four days. They told me it has a 98 percent success rate. I can’t pitch outside for two weeks. I can see but not real well.”
Johnson, 35, has pitched for eight major league teams and was the first pitcher granted permission to wear an insulin pump on his belt to battle diabetes. He was 1-2 with a 5.22 ERA for the Dodgers last season.
He is 56-100 with a 4.99 ERA in 255 big league games.