Angels star Shohei Ohtani to miss the remainder of the season
Angels star Shohei Ohtani will miss the remainder of the season because of a right oblique muscle injury he has been nursing for nearly two weeks, the Angels announced Saturday.
Ohtani, who is set to become a free agent after the World Series and might have played his final game with the Angels, was placed on the 15-day injured list. The decision to shut down Ohtani came early Friday evening after an MRI scan revealed there still was irritation in his oblique, general manager Perry Minasian said. Ohtani planned to stay around for the final homestand, Minasian said.
He was in the Angels’ dugout during Saturday’s 5-4 loss in 10 innings to the Detroit Tigers. When fans realized Ohtani was in the dugout, they clamored down the aisles toward the dugouts every half inning to catch a glimpse of him. Ushers mitigated the intermittent crowd influxes, ensuring the aisles were cleared before play resumed.
Shohei Ohtani has ended another disappointing season with the Angels after being placed on IL, however, his time with the team has elevated him.
Ohtani took swings in the batting cage before Friday’s 11-2 loss to Detroit, manager Phil Nevin said. After the decision was made to shut him down, Ohtani cleaned out his locker.
Minasian said there had been a possibility that Ohtani would undergo a procedure Saturday to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow.
“That’s why he packed,” Minasian said. “It’s nothing malicious.”
Given Ohtani had already planned to be around the team through the remainder of the season, Minasian was asked by a small group of reporters after batting practice about Ohtani’s motive for cleaning out his locker.
“You’d have to ask him,” Minasian said. “He’s not going to play. … His stuff is all valuable, I don’t know. He has his own stuff. I don’t know if he sells it or somebody else sells it.
“I didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” Minasian continued. “Guys who are done for the year, they clean out their locker. I used to clean out their lockers for them [when I was a clubbie]. ... Shohei is gonna be done, he cleaned out his locker. I get it … If you think you’re going to have the surgery, ASAP, you know, you clean that stuff out. And he didn’t clean out everything. There’s still stuff in there.”
Ohtani was not able to get that procedure done Saturday, though it is likely he will soon. Minasian did not have any further details.
“It’s a bummer,” closer Carlos Estévez said. “He was really trying to come back.
“I told him, ‘I really respect what you do,’ ” Estévez added. “ ‘It’s really amazing to see a guy do this and for the big effort you put into it and you try to get better every day. I really respect that and don’t change. Be the same guy, stay humble and just keep playing the baseball that you do.’”
Ohtani, the 2021 American League most valuable player, sustained the oblique injury after an awkward swing in batting practice on Sept. 4. He immediately headed to the clubhouse and did not appear in the dugout during the game, beginning a string of 11 consecutive games missed. Ohtani was briefly listed in the starting lineup against the Seattle Mariners on Monday before being scratched. Before this stretch, Ohtani had missed two games this season.
Shortly before the oblique injury, Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, provided an optimistic outlook about the pitcher and his treatment options for the torn UCL he sustained last month. Balelo said it was “inevitable” that Ohtani would have to undergo a procedure and said he was confident Ohtani could play next season as a designated hitter.
Even after leaving his final pitching start Aug. 23 because of the elbow injury, Ohtani batted .286 with 18 walks in 10 games.
Despite missing the previous 11 games, Ohtani entered Saturday second in the majors in on-base-plus-slugging rate (1.066) and third in home runs (44). He also led the team in batting (.304), hits (151), triples (8), RBIs (95), walks (91) and steals (20). He led the pitching staff with 10 wins and 167 strikeouts and his 3.14 earned-run average was best among starters.
Angels third baseman Anthony Rendon says a fractured tibia has kept him out since July. The team initially described the injury as a deep bone bruise.
However, the workload took a toll, with various ailments and injuries showing just how human he really is. Before he tore his UCL, Ohtani’s pitching starts and late-game at-bats had been affected by a cracked fingernail, a finger blister, finger sensitivity, a finger cramp, body cramps and fatigue.
Still, there have been few doubts that Ohtani would be able to return to being a two-way player. Ohtani had Tommy John surgery in 2018 and has had his best years in the seasons that followed.
“Why not? There are a lot of guys out there that have two [Tommy John surgeries],” Estévez said. “And they’re doing great right now.”
Added Nevin: “I already consider him probably the best player I’ve ever seen play. I have no doubt he’ll continue that. He’ll tackle this rehab process as well as anybody, better than anybody, like he does most things. I fully expect to … see him [be a] full-speed, two-way player and one of the best on both sides of the ball.”
Speaking before Saturday’s game, teammates reflected on what it has been like to play alongside Ohtani.
“Just kind of a blessing to be able to watch him grow in this game and become the player he is,” said pitcher Patrick Sandoval, whose locker is next to Ohtani’s.
Rookie catcher Logan O’Hoppe, who caught Ohtani’s season-opening start in March, said the magic of playing alongside Ohtani was never lost on him.
“Days I didn’t take for granted,” said O’Hoppe, who spent most of the season on the injured list recovering from a torn labrum. “Even when he was pitching, it killed me I couldn’t be back there. I was happy I got a front-row seat to watch it. And I’m grateful I got to see his best too.”
As for Ohtani’s future, Nevin spoke with conviction.
“He’s the MVP,” Nevin said. “I said it last year too. But I can’t see, there’s no way it’s not a unanimous choice this year. It’s impossible.
“Of course I want him, I mean everybody wants Shohei Ohtani,” Nevin added. “There’s gonna be 30 teams that want Shohei Ohtani on their team. It would mean the world to me if he was back.”
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