The Angels have announced the activation of Shohei Ohtani from the 10-day DL. He stayed on the shelf for just under a month after being diagnosed with a grade 2 UCL strain.
Though he is not expected to resume pitching at this time, Ohtani will at least bolster the Halos lineup. Indications are that he can swing freely without concern of further injuring his elbow.
The burgeoning star has outperformed the hype in all regards since coming over from Japan over the winter. As a hitter, Ohtani carries a .289/.372/.535 slash with six home runs in 129 plate appearances.
Ohtani will slot into the sixth slot of the lineup tonight, serving as the club’s designated hitter. In all likelihood, he’ll see quite a lot of time in that role until he’s able to begin throwing in earnest and, hopefully, get back on the mound.
The Angels have also called up righty Miguel Almonte. To create roster space, fellow right-handers Deck McGuire and Eduardo Paredes were optioned down.
Caseys.Partner
“he’ll see quite a lot of time in that role until he’s able to begin throwing in earnest and, hopefully….”
Play RF
Zach725
And put stress on his elbow by letting him throw?
Dodgethis
His Injury is throwing related. #readingcomprehension
jleve618
It’s a shame you couldn’t comprehend his comment. Moron
xabial
Wow. Ballsy
bradthebluefish
Right? Curious if this negatively affects his pitching rehab.
HalosHeavenJJ
This pushes Pujols into the field, but gets Valbuena out of the line up. At least there will be some excitement in the stadium now. He draws quite a crowd.
Steven Chinwood
Yea, he’s larger then Lebron.
HalosHeavenJJ
Lebron, the Pujols of the Lakers.
Steven Chinwood
Lebron = GOAT
Pujols = old goat
HalosHeavenJJ
One signed a huge contract in his decline years and will never win a title in LA.
And then there’s Pujols……
Steven Chinwood
You’re an Idiot
Jeff Zanghi
You’re an insult mastermind…
martyvan90
Really???
martyvan90
Hate much? You must be old OC?
frankiegxiii
Pujols will never win a title in LA because his team is not located in LA
Bocephus
^^Give It Up For frankie^^
AndyM
Unless the Angels play the dodgers in the World Series and secure the win on the road then Pujols could technically win a title in LA
chound
Someone has been told to win or else…
madmanTX
Start the countdown clock til TJ surgery…
Steven Chinwood
Vegas has even on shoulder surgery.
iverbure
Angels ought to spend half the money they’re thinking about spending on terrible free agents and spend it on research and figure out why their pitchers are getting injured more often than any other team.
kimball0401
Rays may wanna be part of that research committee too
greatdaysport
And Dodgers, Mets, Giants etc.
Jeff Zanghi
And Red Sox and Yankees and Cardinals and yeah… you get the point. It does sucks though — if they can ever figure out some sort of preventative procedure or way to actually achieve the results of a full TJ surgery without the year+ of recovery and rehab that would an amazing miracle for baseball! Who knows, it seems some of these ‘new’ method of platelet injections and such have been making progress. Maybe in the near future everyone will start having “special elbows” like David Price — then all they’ll have to worry about is “Carpal Tunnel” from Video Games and allergies to “Fresh Cut Grass and Dogs” (if you don’t know what I’m referencing and want a good laugh – this is worth a google/youtube search to watch David Price go on a 5 minute ‘whine-fest’ about his “injuries”
Bocephus
yada-yada-yada..no wonder so many people hate baseball
HaloShane
Okay…. and???
paulnewman
Hope the advertising dollars are worth the risk to his physical health. This decision makes choosing the Angels org. look like a short term mistake.
baseball1600
Not like Dodgers, Giants would have been better. Both have been terrible at keeping their pitchers healthy. Think he should have signed with a rebuilding team like the Pads or A’s, who’s number one priority would have been to develop rather than rush on the field for extra W’s. Heck, even the Giants and Dodgers, who are contending, have been more cautious with their pitching.
JoeyPankake
The A’s set a record for most starters on the DL at once this year. It’s not like he came up through the Angles system and their approach to pitching is what hurt his arm, more likely that he has been throwing in the upper 90’s since he was a teenager playing baseball year round and he is starting to break down structurally like so many others do.
bigdaddyhacks
This is so dumb on their part.
HaloShane
It’s the Angels….. Dumb organization with not very intelligent baseball fans.
GeoKaplan
Irony was just pronounced dead.
HalosHeavenJJ
Hitting puts no stress on the UCL. They are getting some value out of him while trying to avoid TJS. If he ultimately has the surgery, he’s out next year either way.
This is one of the few intelligent things they’ve done lately.
GeoKaplan
That’s right. Hitting is not throwing 90 mph splitters, so swinging the bat, in the opinion of the top ortho in LA, is not a concern.
Solaris601
Totally agree. If he has TJS kiss him good-bye for 18+ months. This way he can DH every day. I’d rather have that than nothing at all. Rest that UCL and see how much it’s healed on its own in the spring.
HaloShane
Just another 20 games out, under .500, and can’t sniff the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row……
bradthebluefish
Curious if this negatively affects his pitching rehab.
kyredsox17
I understand that a professional Doctor has cleared him to do this…but I don’t like it. Trout sells enough tickets for this lost season of theirs. No need to bring out a 1 armed man to hit.
jd396
My only question is, what if it’s NOT healing in a manner that will allow him to pitch without TJ, and he ends up missing a ton of future time rather than most of this season. In the future they might actually be competing. They’re not beating Houston and Seattle this year no matter what he does.