Angels starter/DH Shohei Ohtani has been cleared medically to resume throwing, per a club announcement. The news came on the heels of his examination after six weeks of rest following stem cell and platelet-rich plasma treatment.
Ohtani, who took MLB by storm in his first season after coming over from Japan, hit the shelf in early June after being diagnosed with a grade 2 sprain of his ulnar collateral ligament. The two-way star has since returned to the active roster to continue working as a hitter, but has not yet begun moving back toward the mound.
It obviously seems to be promising news that Ohtani will be able to attempt to return to the hill as soon as the present season. The announcement states that Ohtani’s UCL “continues to show improved healing.” He’ll doubtlessly be watched closely as he ramps back up and will certainly need some time to get back to full speed. It’ll also be interesting to see how the Halos balance the need to get Ohtani rehab outings with the fact that he’s already an active part of the MLB roster.
Of course, skeptics will note that this club has pursued this route before, with at most a mixed record. While Garrett Richards was able to stave off Tommy John surgery for a while after electing not to undergo the procedure in May of 2016, he experienced some intervening setbacks and only made it back for 22 total starts before ultimately requiring a UCL replacement. Teammate Andrew Heaney initially charted a similar course at nearly the exact same time, but ultimately did not return to competitive action before needing a TJ procedure. Interestingly, though, to this point Heaney has 22 MLB outings of his own since both he and Richards faced the same choice.
It’s worth noting that Ohtani has been cleared to begin ramping up after just six weeks of rest. That’s the same hope that was expressed at the time that Richards underwent his initial treatment, but he ultimately did not begin his own throwing program until mid-August of 2016 — about three months later. Whether that suggests greater cause for optimism in Ohtani’s case isn’t really clear.
Of course, even if Ohtani is able to make it back later this year, it’s far from clear that he’ll have any impact on the team’s 2018 prospects for reaching the postseason. Since he left the rotation, the club has plummeted in the standings and now sits nine games out of a Wild Card spot.
That’s not to say that there isn’t anything to be gained by avoiding the surgery. At this stage of the year, TJ would likely prevent Ohtani from pitching for most or all of the 2019 season. That essential outlook would remain the same if, say, Ohtani ends up undergoing a procedure this fall. The Richards example shows that there are risks in the rehab approach, too, but it’s also far from guaranteed that a pitcher who undertakes such a serious surgery will end up back at full strength.
Fortunately, Ohtani has impressed nearly as much with his bat as with his arm, though it’s the combination of the two areas that makes him utterly unique at the game’s highest level. Through 157 plate appearances, he carries a .283/.365/.522 slash line with seven home runs. In nine starts, he posted a 3.10 ERA with 11.1 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9. The Angels are clearly much better, and the overall game of baseball much richer, with Ohtani functioning in both a hitting and a pitching capacity
noah_lowen15
Yes!!! Let’s go!
MetsYankeesRedSox
Live or die by the sword! Good luck!!
Bart
Angels need to sprinkle the mound with holy water and keep their fingers crossed.
mpkgolf99
Well said
Angelfanforlife19
They need review their pitching program and move on after a reasonable amount of time.
bradthebluefish
Agreed. Something is up with their conditioning.
ReverieDays
Why even risk it? They aren’t going anywhere. Just stick to hitting, and rest the arm for next year. He’s probably going to need TJ either way, though.
Travis’ Wood
That’s what people said about Tanaka and it still hasn’t happened
24TheKid
Tanaka also hasn’t been as effective since he got injured.
bigkempin
And how has Tanaka performed since his injury?
jaysfan1994
Tanaka got injured in his dominate rookie season where he suffered a partially torn UCL. He still had a decent 2015 (116ERA+) and an amazing 2016 (140ERA+) so he’s pitched decently but poorly his last two seasons.
I still remember how good he was in 2014 before his UCL tear was apparently diagnosed with his 2.10 ERA in 115 2/3 innings.
bradthebluefish
To be fair, batters didn’t know how to face Tanaka because he was such a fresh face and very talented.
But I will say that Tanaka always seemed off ever that injury.
Bart
The competition for the second wildcard spot is wide open. Seattle is due for regression. Go for it.
Tanaka is almost 40. Way different circumstances there.
cazarmlbrumers
Tanaka is 29 will be thirty in November. Dolt
ReverieDays
29 is almost 40? Haha, what?
Bart
Damn Autocorrect!! 😉
Ronk325
The Mariners and A’s are both much better teams than the Angels. They won’t be getting the 2nd wild card
Go Angels
Who has a better run differential: Seattle Mariners or Los Angeles Angels?
mmarinersfan
Whose record is better, and whose team doesn’t have an injury happening every day?
rez2405 2
Who hasn’t gotten into the post season since 2001 tho?
Bart
Not the Angels
Go Angels
The Mariners have been winning all their one-run games. They will regress.
Go Angels
The Mariners have a Pythagorean win-loss of 48-49, which is ten fewer wins than what they actually have. Both the Athletics and Angels are at 51-46. The Mariners are not “much better than the Angels”.
luvbeisbol
Then have TJ now and pitch in 2020
larry48
o will need TJ surgury in off season
bradthebluefish
Delaying the inevitable. Yet everyone thinks they are the exception to reality.
rez2405 2
Conveniently forgetting that he can just DH in 2019?
pinkerton
good thing he’s not on the Orioles, the medical team would probably be keeping him in some safeguarded room or something.
stevd417
bubble wrap comes to mind.
madmanTX
Eek don’t do it, man!
imindless
How long till he breaks again?
firstbleed
Break = bones. Do you mean ‘tear’ because it was reported as a strain? All different things.
KENNETH A LICHTIG
Will the Angels be Buyers, Sellers or will Arte sit back & do nothing to help the team?
angelsfan1522
Sellers what would the point be to trading away promising prospects when they aren’t going to make the playoffs? I could see them buying if they were around 5 games back but they are 9 games back and have a injured roster that’s not coming back this year.
John Luke
So Arte spending $170 million + is not enough? Jeez. Spoiled fans here.
halos101
The amount of angels fans that claim Arte doesn’t spend to win is sad. He spends, just not in the smartest of ways
halodon
Yup, all the fickle “spoiled” fans. Not all know the history of our Angels. Some crazy comments out there from time to time.
HalosHeavenJJ
The thought was he needed ABs to get the bat up to par with his pitching. This is a lost season, let him DH, let the arm fully heal (or at least as much as possible) and get him on a throwing program during the offseason.
Rushing him back now is such an Angels thing to do.
halodon
“Rushing him back now is such an Angels thing to do”
The Angels do NOT have a history of rushing players back.
Boogaloo
What a mess of an organization.
Desperate to do anything to push off the inevitable trade of Trout.
greatdaysport
Trouts going nowhere but Anaheim.
Idiots that think they know better know nothing.
You sound like (wo)Manfred. Keep ragging Trout and the Angels.
Bart
bugaloo=HaloShane=troll
Pay no attention to it.
politicsNbaseball
Why is he trolling, the Angels have done nothing to surround Trout with talent. They sign pricey free agents like Pujols and Hamilton who dont help with a single thing. Also at what point does the training staff start getting some of the blame for the injuries? If Trout ever wants Postseason success he should probably pack up his bags unless the Angels start making some much needed changes.
Bart
Upton Kinsler Cozart Shohei a massive upgrade to the farm and international scouting. Sounds like something to me.
Go Angels
Pujols and Hamilton were signed by Jerry Dipoto, as was Roberto Baldoquin. Thank goodness he’s gone.
On the other hand, Billy Eppler has made this team much better, with acquisitions of Simmons, Upton, Ohtani, etc.
John Luke
Done nothing to surround Trout? Didn’t you just list a few things they spent money on but didn’t pan out? They gambled on some high end free agents that didn’t end up working out in their favor. Hardly “doing nothing”…. probably the opposite actually
bradthebluefish
Pujols and Hamilton were ownership signings. Also, Dipoto wanted to sign Greinke, not Hamilton.
halos101
I don’t like dipoto, but he wasn’t responsible for pujols or hamilton. If it were up to him we prob would’ve kept greinke and torii. Baldoquin was a big miss on his part tho
Go Angels
True, but it might have been better if the Angels had never acquired Greinke. We lost Jean Segura in that trade, and we could have had a 2B/SS duo of Segura and Simmons.
Boogaloo
We will see in 2 years.
Like you know trout personally, lol.
I’m sure he’d like to eventually be in the playoffs more than once a decade.
Crappy farm system, old players on bad contracts and pitchers dropping like flies.
Houston, houston and new york not getting bad anytime soon.
It would be a miricle if you even got the second wild-card before hes a free agent.
No athelete with any price wants to lose their whole career and be an afterthought.
bkbkbk
Dude, you literally were the guy who claimed he knew trout was leaving first. SMDH
Bart
Jo Adell is now a top 5 prospect Boogy.
rez2405 2
Do you have “stupid” tattooed on your forehead boog? Read the farm system rankings .. and then read them again to make sure.. and then post
Boogaloo
google.com/amp/s/amp.mlb.com/267360666-top-10-farm…
You read them, considered lower tier. And that was with ohtani counting! Lol
Having a good of prospect doesn’t mean you have a good system clowns.
Its well below average, ranked anywhere from 18-25.
Couple that with the bad contracts and the great young teams in their league and it adds up to being mediocre at best.
Trout is gone in 2 years, accept it fan boy.
Go Angels
The rankings you linked to are from the beginning of the season.
milb.com/milb/news/midseason-farm-system-grades-am…
You read them, given an “A” rating. And “[w]hile it’s true that Shohei Ohtani was lost to an elbow injury shortly after he outgrew his prospect status, it’s also true that the addition of Ohtani didn’t single-handedly overhaul the Angels system.”
It’s the only American League farm system with an “A”. No one here is arguing that the Angels have the best farm in the league. But it’s not well below average or ranked anywhere from 18–25.
halodon
Everybody is entitled to their OPINION. Even if they are not even involved or aware of the situation.
Oh, by the way, there have been quite a few superstars that have not won a championship.
joshua.barron1
Womanfred? Is that a dig at manfred or a dig at women? Lol
majorflaw
“Shohei Ohtani cleared to begin throwing progression”
What in the world is a “throwing progression”? Did auto-correct eat “program” and spit out “progression”?
sameichel
Haha probably with all the stupid stuff auto correct does nowadays, for braves once autocorrected to brewers
sameichel
For me
majorflaw
“ . . . for me braves once autocorrected to brewers”
E-revenge for Atlanta poaching Milwaukee’s Braves perhaps?
davelsu
Same way they handled Garrett Richards!
angelsfan1522
Richards has had a whole career full of injuries and should’ve gotten tommy John when every doctor said he should. He also has horrible mechanics which lead to more arm injuries. Not a single doctor who evaluated ohtani which has been multiple not hired by the angels said that the surgery wasn’t necessary and the injection was a good start.
davelsu
Fox news article today stated Ohtani elected not to have season ending surgery. Fairly credible news source. Somebody thinks he needs Tommy John?
halos101
whoever wrote that article was misled by reporters like bob nightengale. Ohtani was never told he needed tommy john. Media just saw he had UCL damage and went straight to “he’s delaying the tommy john”
halos101
This is the type of uneducated opinion that is to common in this section. There’s a biggggggg difference between richards and ohtani: Richards was literally told he needed tommy john, he tried another way. No doctor ever recommended tommy john to ohtani with his current injury. So no, they are not doing the same thing
yoyo137
Thanks for this comment. I was looking for Richards comparisons and didn’t consider this. It worked for Richards for a while considering he needed surgery. I’ hoping Ohtani won’t, but if he does I’d like for them to get it over with as soon as possible.
halos101
Yup i agree. If he’s told he needs the surgery i hope they just get it over with
Boogaloo
And Richard’s wasnt told he needed tommy john also.
Made 22 starts, then told he needed it.
So ohtani will be nursed along, then break down and get the surgery.
Delaying the inevitable.
Ucl tears don’t heal by throwing a baseball, the same action that tore it in the first place.
It’s over angel fans, Trouts a goner, accept reality
beanball
Joely Rodriguez getting shipped off to Japan.
justreading
Don’t do it!
HaloShane
If the team was kinda in it ok…. being this teams season is over, why???? Typical Angel move. Just a bad organization.
Bart
LAA…the HaloShane of organizations.
doug4848
Here what me my co work was talk about if the angels put the money up for Bryce harper next year the angels trade Calhoun for the pitcher Duffy from the royals and sign Moustakas to play 3 base and Cozart to play 2base next year and get Chris archer or Cobb add to the pitching staff then your set then I know for sure mike stay here for sure
Bart
They have Jo A Dell to take over. a Top 5 ranked prospect. No way they would want overrated Harper.
24TheKid
Jo Adell is currently the 36th ranked prospect according to mlb.com and is playing in a league where numbers are inflated.
Go Angels
Adell is ranked in the top 20 in most updated rankings.
Go Angels
The Angels have Taylor Ward to play 3rd base next season so there’s no point in signing Moustakas. As mentioned, Jo Adell is going to take over in the outfield in the near future. I don’t see why the Angels would trade the farm for Chris Archer or Alex Cobb, who’s 2-12 with a 6.41 ERA. That being said, the Angels still need to sign pitchers in the offseason.
halodon
Harper: career .277 avg Bad attitude. His stats are declining big this year .215 avg. and worse in last 30 .196 avg 15 .189 avg 7 .179 avg avg defense. No hustle. Perceived poor teammate in my eyes. Not convinced I would want him on my team.
I know Calhoun is having a sucky year with a .187 avg, he is showing some improvement: 30 .235 15 .250 7 .333. Oh and guess what. Great defense, amazing hustle, and teammates love him.
Now is it fair to compare? Probably not. But superstar status for Harper? Solving RF problem? Championship caliber? I vote NO!
HarveyD82
im no doctor, or claimed to be one, but this seems like a bad idea…. what if he throws a pitch or two and then whammo, down goes ohtani. i know its completely differeny, but i remember dave draveckys arm and joe saunders. like i said completely different, but i dont want to see a young talent get hurt worse and his career derailed.
Angelfanforlife19
Season after season what a nightmare with this owner and manager