Shohei Ohtani reportedly has a first-degree UCL sprain, which is not great

Shohei Ohtani, the most anticipated part of the 2018 season, is the best thing baseball has going right now (or...in a few months from now). He’s fun, he’s entertaining, and we’ve been focusing on his impending arrival this entire offseason.

Well, now that arrival has been dampened by some slightly unfortunate news. According to a physical obtained by Yahoo! Sports, Ohtani has a first-degree sprain in his UCL, a ligament that pitchers really need to ... you know ... pitch. Jeff Passan reports that neither Ohtani’s agent or his new team the Angels have responded to a request for comment.

This isn’t all tragic, despite what it may seem. All teams that were in on Ohtani knew of this injury, so this isn’t some grand controversy about him hiding it. Still, the teams all had their chance to come to grips with it and temper their excitement ever so slightly, and now it’s our turn.

The obvious bad news here is that UCLs are important and if rest and precautionary treatments don’t work he could be headed for Tommy John surgery, which absolutely no one in the world wants. He also has a “small free body” floating near the ligament in his elbow and when things are just floating free around important ligaments that’s also not ideal.

The good news — and yes, there is genuinely good news! — is that Ohtani was injected with a platelet-rich plasma shot that aims to treat the pain and promote healing, and that treatment combined with appropriate rest could avoid the need for surgery at all. A first-degree sprain is the least severe of UCL injuries, and a key quote in the report says,

“Although partial damage of UCL in deep layer of his right UCL exists…he is able to continue full baseball participation with sufficient elbow care program.”

A few pitchers have gone through similar injury situations in the past and it’s worked out well enough, although no injury can be directly compared to another.

Masahiro Tanaka had a partial UCL tear in 2014, and rehab was recommended over going straight to Tommy John surgery. He never needed to opt for surgery is doing pretty okay for himself at this juncture.

Just last season, Angels pitcher Garrett Richards went through similar treatments as Ohtani is opting for in PRP shots and other therapies. It worked out for him and he too avoided surgery, coming back from his time missed in 2016 to pitch in 2017. He only pitched 27.2 innings this year though, so there’s an argument to be made that he could have gone with to Tommy John and come back stronger.

But that he could pitch at all is a reminder that Tommy John isn’t the only choice. With Ohtani’s injury falling short of even a partial tear, either of these outcomes could be more likely than losing him for more than a year. Since the Angels already have experience with this in Richards, they should have a good sense of what next steps would serve Ohtani best in his recovery.

There’s entirely a chance he doesn’t miss any significant playing time because of this (not counting the time he is already missing because of a recent and minor ankle surgery), but the alternative outcome would be a real bummer, to put things in smart baseball speak. A real bummer indeed.