The last clear-eyed vision Matt Imhof has is one that will stay with him forever, his last moment with two eyes also his worst.

Seven months after a freak exercise equipment accident cost him his right eye, the Phillies pitching prospect is giving up baseball.

In an emotional, first-person account published by ESPN, the 23-year-old who had been in the Single-A Florida State League announced his retirement, saying he’s concentrating on a wide-open future.

Imhof, a California native, was a second-round pick in 2014 who was moving through the Phillies system until late June. As he was working out in Brevard County, Fla., with exercise bands attached to the wall — a pulling routine that had become second nature — he “felt the tension break.

“I saw a flash of silver and then felt the metal hook smash into my face,” wrote Imhof, who finished his final minor league season with a 4-3 record and 3.91 ERA in nine starts. “Everything went numb as I hit the ground screaming. I could feel the warmth of the blood running down my face and taste it in my mouth. I couldn’t breathe. I tried to move and look around, but my vision was blurry.

“Everything was shaking so violently that I didn’t know which way was up. After a couple of minutes, my trainer, Mickey Kozack, got me seated on the table. At that point, my face was swollen and all I could do was spit up blood in between dry heaves. I was convinced my nose was broken, but the pain had gotten so intense I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. All I knew was I wanted it to stop.”

Imhof was rushed to the hospital. Doctors there decided his eye was too grave to deal with, so he was rushed to Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami. His eye was removed, and a sulking Imhof believed his life to be over. An inspirational doctor helped him learn how to live again.

But the person he’s become, he says, is not the person he was. He doesn’t know what’s next — he’s re-enrolled in college at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and says he wants to help the community — but he’s putting baseball behind him.

“I would like to announce my retirement from the game of baseball,” Imhof wrote. “I know many of you want me to continue my career, and to those people I would like to say thank you. My injury is not what’s stopping me. I made this choice after six months because I wanted to be sure of that. The truth is I need a change of pace after 20 years of doing the same thing.”