SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Reynaldo López can see clearly now, viewing all obstacles in his way.

At the very least, the White Sox right-hander has a renewed strength on the mound shown during the 2021 season after he underwent crosslinking surgery last May on both corneas to correct a condition called keratoconus. It was a vision problem affecting López in the most rudimentary of ways, as in not being able to consistently see the catcher’s signs.

“That was difficult. I was feeling confused. I was hesitating a lot,” López told MLB.com, through interpreter Billy Russo, during a recent interview. “I wasn’t having the conviction that I usually have, and it happened a few times with [catcher Yasmani] Grandal.

“Sometimes he called a slider, and I was seeing fastball. Or sometimes he called fastball and I was throwing sliders. That was when I started feeling more afraid and hesitating more because I didn’t want to hurt anybody. But then after surgery, the improvement was noticeable. I was feeling way better, and I wasn’t having that problem. That was a big step forward.”

López, 28, came to the White Sox from the Nationals along with Lucas Giolito and Dane Dunning as part of the Adam Eaton trade prior to the 2017 season. He made a very quick impact by posting a 3.91 ERA over 32 starts in 2018, striking out 151 over 188 2/3 innings. But even during that successful run, López noticed the blurriness.

The problem became worse in 2019, and despite recording 169 strikeouts over 184 innings, his ERA jumped to 5.38.  

“In 2018, it happened a few times with [catcher Omar] Narváez,” López explained. “He was calling for a fastball and I was throwing sliders. He was calling for a slider and I was throwing a fastball. He asked me, ‘What’s going on?’ and I told him, ‘I thought you called the pitch I was throwing.’ 

“Then it was getting worse to a point where I wasn’t really throwing with confidence. It was a challenge. I was trying to pitch through that. As you see, the results after surgery were way better.”

White Sox head athletic trainer James Kruk credited team optometrist Dr. R. Tracy Williams for diagnosing something a little more irregular than normal vision issues with López in ’20, and López was sent to a specialist. He wears glass contact lenses, which according to Kruk, help support the cornea and keep it shaped.

An original usage of contact lenses didn’t pay the dividends hoped for by López. 

“We didn’t see any progress. I thought maybe it’s because the contacts are kind of dirty or they are old. I just needed a bigger prescription, something like that,” López said. “But it wasn’t until last spring when I threw in Goodyear [Ballpark] that it was a really big red flag.

“People were saying it’s because the lights there aren’t very good. After that moment, they started doing more studies and that was when I realized I needed surgery. At that point, we made the decision.”

López’s surgery took place at Rush Medical Center when he was with Triple-A Charlotte, where he pitched until his 2021 White Sox debut on July 16 at home against Houston. He finished with a 7.62 ERA over 10 starts with the Knights but turned things around in Chicago via a 3.43 ERA over 57 2/3 innings. That ERA included five perfect innings and seven strikeouts in relief against the Cubs on Aug. 27 and stood at 1.54 through the start of September. He finished with a 6.35 ERA over his last six games.

Manager Tony La Russa and the White Sox intend to stretch out López during Spring Training. The same plan is being employed for Vince Velasquez, who threw two scoreless innings on Sunday against the Rockies. Regardless of a starter’s role or working in long relief, and regardless of the results from appearance to appearance, López is pitching with something he'd been missing for a couple of seasons.

“Confidence,” said a smiling López in English.

“Really it has been super helpful and super impactful for him,” said Kruk, adding López is in a good place via normal eye exams and the adjustment of his prescription. “There are things that can progress sometimes when people have [keratoconus] and don’t necessarily notice it. They just continue to wear contacts and their prescription constantly changes. You can get to a point where it’s too late to do this crosslinking.”

“You can notice a change right away,” López continued. “I can see as clear as the sky. Now I’m using the lens and I can see everything. I can throw whatever I want.”