Shohei Ohtani

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

After undergoing an MRI this morning, Shohei Ohtani has been cleared to begin a hitting program, the Angels announced today. He’ll be further evaluated in another three weeks, but tests today showed improvements in his ulnar collateral ligament (Twitter links via Joel Sherman of the New York Post). The Angels aren’t making a definitive call on whether he’ll be able to pitch again this season until that subsequent followup exam.

While Ohtani certainly isn’t entirely out of the woods just yet, it’s obviously an encouraging update for the Angels that the platelet-rich plasma and stem cell injections he received earlier this month have resulted in some meaningful improvement. Eppler indicated yesterday that if Ohtani were strictly a designated hitter, he’d likely have been cleared right away. That, coupled with today’s clearance, makes it seem likely that Ohtani will, at the very least, return to the Angels’ lineup at some point this summer — if not the rotation.

Ohtani was widely expected to be a superior pitcher than hitter, and many reports at the time of his signing cited scouts who remained skeptical of his ability to hit Major League pitching. While he’s only had 129 plate appearances to date, he’s looked every bit the part of someone talented enough to excel in both areas. Thus far in the Majors, Ohtani has raked at a .289/.372/.535 pace, clubbing six homers, eight doubles and a triple.

The Halos won’t send Ohtani on a traditional minor league rehab assignment, according to Eppler (via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, on Twitter). Instead, he’ll get his at-bats in via a series of simulated games and live BP sessions. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that Ohtani could begin facing live pitching as soon as next week.

As with any UCL injury, speculation regarding potential surgery for Ohtani will abound. However, Eppler made sure to emphasize today that medical experts have not yet made that recommendation for Ohtani (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Maria Guardado). Said Eppler: “No doctor has told me that Shohei needs surgical intervention at this time.”

3:40pm: Angels GM Billy Eppler provided further details on the situation, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports (Twitter links). Ohtani reported elbow stiffness after being removed from his most recent start for a blister, prompting the medical review. When asked whether Ohtani can avoid Tommy John surgery, Eppler responded: “We’re hopeful that he can, that it is completely treatable with the biologic prescription the doctors recommended.”

2:03pm: In an alarming announcement, the Angels revealed today that right-hander Shohei Ohtani has been placed on the 10-day DL with a Grade 2 sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He’s already received platelet-rich plasma and stem-cell injections, per the Angels, and will be re-evaluated in three weeks.

The move comes as a brutal blow to an Angels staff that is without Matt Shoemaker indefinitely and without J.C. Ramirez for the balance of the season. It was reported shortly after Ohtani signed with the Angels that the young phenom had a Grade 1 sprain of his UCL when teams were courting him this offseason. Every organization was made aware of that information, and it obviously did little to dissuade clubs from embarking on an elaborate and high-profile courtship of the former NPB sensation. He also received a PRP injection for that injury at the time.

The preexisting elbow damage was either minimal enough or had healed to the point that Ohtani was able to pitch throughout Spring Training and quickly enter super-stardom in his first two months with the Halos. Not only has the 23-year-old pitched to a pristine 3.10 ERA with 11.1 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 and 0.9 HR/9 in 49 1/3 innings, he’s also been one of the Angels’ best hitters. In 129 plate appearances, Ohtani has raked at a .289/.372/.535 pace with six homers, eight doubles and a triple. He’s walked at an 11.6 percent clip against a 25.6 percent strikeout rate, and he’s even stolen a base in his lone attempt.

With Ohtani out of commission for at least the foreseeable future, the Angels will have Garrett Richards, Andrew Heaney, Tyler Skaggs, Nick Tropeano, Jaime Barria and Parker Bridwell as rotation options. But any more significant absence for Ohtani, coupled with significant recent injury histories for a number of the currently-healthy members of the Angels’ rotation mix, could push the Angels out into the market for rotation upgrades later this summer. Despite their excellent 35-28 record, the Angels find themselves 4.5 games back of the surprising Mariners in the American League West, and they’re 3.5 games out of an AL Wild Card spot at present.