ANAHEIM — An hour after Shohei Ohtani’s agent spoke to a room full of reporters to “create as much positive narrative as I can,” Ohtani was scratched from the Angels’ lineup with right oblique tightness.
Ohtani felt something during batting practice, enough to have him out of the lineup for just the third time all season. He then underwent some tests, with more scheduled for Tuesday.
“I don’t want to speculate anything right now,” Manager Phil Nevin said after the Angels’ 6-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. “He’s gonna get checked in the morning, run some tests in the morning. We’ll see how it goes. He’s pretty sore today.”
Ohtani had been in the lineup as the designated hitter in every game since he learned on Aug. 23 that he has a torn ulnar collateral ligament, which will prevent him from pitching for the rest of the season.
There has been little update on what’s next for Ohtani, so agent Nez Balelo spent nearly 30 minutes explaining as much as he could to dozens of reporters jammed into a suite at Angel Stadium before Monday’s game.
Ohtani will need “some type of procedure” to repair his torn ulnar collateral ligament, Balelo said, but they are “still gathering more information” to determine what that entails, including the possibility of a procedure besides Tommy John surgery.
Balelo was definitive that Ohtani, who will soon be perhaps the most prominent free agent in baseball history, will continue to be a two-way player at some point.
“There’s not a question in his mind that he’s going to come back and he’s going to continue to do both,” Balelo said.
Balelo added that “multiple doctors have looked at this and said this is the best-case scenario for the situation we’re in.” Balelo acknowledged a tear in the ligament, but he said it’s in a different spot than what was repaired in 2018.
Balelo said they continue to explore his options, and Ohtani is continuing to play because he’s been told that he’s not at risk.
“There’s not one thing that that he can’t do right now when it comes to DH-ing,” Balelo said. “He can lift. He can run. He can slide. He can hit, take violent swings. He can do anything he wants right now. It doesn’t affect the problem in question, so we’re good.”
He said that before Ohtani was scratched with the oblique issue.
Balelo did not guarantee that Ohtani would continue to hit for the rest of the season, though.
“We’re weighing it all out,” he said.
Balelo was clear that Ohtani wants to do what’s necessary to be ready when 2024 begins.
“No matter what timetable we’re dealing with and when we get this done, Shohei will be in somebody’s lineup next year, DH-ing, when the bell rings,” Balelo said. “We’re not going to push that. He’s going to be good to go.”
In 2018, Ohtani delayed Tommy John surgery until Oct. 1, just after the season. He did not return to the Angels’ lineup as the DH until May 9. Balelo said “it’s a completely different scenario this time,” because of the nature of the injury, although he wouldn’t elaborate.
Balelo also rejected the notion that the Angels had mishandled Ohtani in any way leading up to this injury.
“They’ve been great,” Balelo said. “No issues with the Angels.”
General Manager Perry Minasian said the Angels offered to have Ohtani undergo imaging after he came out of his Aug. 3 start with cramping.
“There was the suggestion like maybe we need to get imaging,” Balelo said. “Hold the fort. Let’s find out what the deal is. I consulted with Shohei after we talked through it. If you noticed in the sixth or seventh inning the cramp went away. He hit a home run to tie the game and he stole a base. He was fine. It wasn’t any issue with the elbow. No issue with the shoulder. No problem. He was good to go. And if you recall, he had normal rest to his next start and threw 97 pitches and beat the Giants.”
Ohtani also had cramping issues in late July, when he pitched the first game of a doubleheader in Detroit and was the DH in Game 2. He then asked to skip a start in mid-August because of “fatigue,” the Angels said.
Balelo said there should have been no inference from anyone that Ohtani was struggling with fatigue for weeks leading up to the Aug. 23 start in which he got hurt.
“They kept hearing the word fatigue and he’s breaking down and then there were a couple other people that are out there that people listen to, and were just pounding that this guy has been tired for weeks,” Balelo said. “The word fatigue was abused in my opinion. … People were just assuming that he was breaking down and there should have been signs for people to notice. That’s not the case at all.”
Balelo also said the point of him addressing all of this was to relieve Ohtani of the responsibility of doing it.
“That’s why I’m here,” Balelo said. “I’m here to answer a lot of your questions. As you know, he is very particular about things and he is going to continue to just play out as long as we possibly can and until we make decisions, but there’s really no need for him to address the media. I’m addressing this for him.”
The 2021 American League MVP, Ohtani is nearly certain to win the award again this year, even though the Angels (64-74) are trending toward their eighth consecutive losing season.
Ohtani is leading MLB in OPS (1.066), home runs (44) and triples (eight) to go with 20 stolen bases. He finished his season as a pitcher with a 10-5 record, a 3.14 ERA and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings.
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Agent concedes Angels’ Shohei Ohtani still unsure which type of ‘procedure’ he will need - OCRegister
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