Tunnel vision no problem for Helton

TUCSON -- Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle let me wear an odd-looking pair of glasses that were sitting on his desk. For a second I felt like Star Trek: The Next Generation's Lt. Geordi LaForge as I struggled to get a peek of light through the single, tiny hole in each solid blue lens.

At first glance, the 'I-ON Eye-Trainer' looks like a normal pair of athletic sunglasses. But the glasses are designed to help "keep your head on the ball and swing," said Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, spokesperson for the new product -- his picture appears on the box. I-ON glasses were developed by Dr. Gregory S. Moore, a former optometrist for the Chicago Cubs.

"It's used just during soft-toss drills -- it's used a lot more for kids, to keep your head on the ball," Helton said. "You really have to concentrate and it takes all the peripheral stuff out. It's very simple. A good concept."

I-ON Eye-Trainer glasses were introduced last month to 3,500 coaches who attended the American Baseball Coaches Association convention in Chicago. "It's physiologically impossible for the human eye to continually track a ball at speeds over 21 miles an hour," Moore said in a released statement. "The I-ON Eye Trainer gives the player a visual reference so that they can embed the proper muscle-memory response and ultimately improve their hitting."

Helton said the I-ON glasses currently are available at www.i-ontheball.com. Retail sporting-goods stores are expected to offer the product in March.

"I've been with them two years, when they went through the whole process," Helton said. "It's a pretty interesting deal -- no gimmick to it. You put it on and all you can see is the ball. It won't guarantee you a swing, but it takes the most fundamental thing about hitting a baseball -- seeing it."

NOTEWORTHY

Most, if not all Rockies players have reported to camp in shape -- almost midseason shape. "I can remember, and not so much myself, but I was still playing in an era where guys would come in and talk about the six weeks I've got to get in shape to be ready for Opening Day -- 'I'm going to take care of this first, then this is going to come off, then I'm going to work on that . . .'", Hurdle said. "It's such a good job to have, being a major-league baseball player, that it necessitates people coming in ready to go and in good shape. There's no doubt that you can walk out of here, you're a first-year player and you can make the money that you're going to make . . . it's an investment in your own future taking care of yourself over the winter. These guys coming in, they might've taken a month off and then they just went about getting ripped. I am amazed by it."