This newsletter is a pro-Shohei Ohtani space. Hell, SB Nation as a whole is pro-Shohei Ohtani, and we’re brave enough to tell you so. Ohtani? We’re fans. So, the news that he was removed from his start on Wednesday with another blister issue is ... well, a bummer.
Shohei Ohtani has another blister
Thursday’s Say Hey, Baseball takes a look at Ohtani’s finger.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Blisters aren’t ruining seasons like a shoulder or an elbow injury, but they’re nagging and hinder effectiveness and cost us valuable innings of pitchers, pitchers like Ohtani. And since Ohtani is in a six-man rotation with a workload that’s extra managed to compensate for the time he spends as the Angels’ designated hitter, as well as the fact he’s in his first season in Major League Baseball where the schedule is longer, there is already a paucity of Ohtani in our lives. The blister is just overkill.
This is the second blister Ohtani has dealt with: he was removed from a start earlier in the season against the Red Sox with a blister, and he bounced back just fine from that. Blisters might seem like such a small thing: you can get them from just about anything! It’s not the pain of the blister that’s really the issue, though, so take that macho ish out of the conversation now. It’s a grip issue, and since Ohtani is in the majors against the best hitters in the world, his being able to hit his spots or not hit his spots, to get his pitches to spin the way they need to spin, is of the utmost importance.
So, until this second blister is gone, we’ll be Ohtani-less again. Well, every six days, anyway. In between we still get to see him mashing dingers and lashing doubles, because Ohtani rules like that.
- Minor League Baseball players deal with packed schedules, awful living conditions, a diet of fast food, and poverty wages, but they haven’t been able to unionize. Here’s why, with an added bonus of hope for the future.
- Bryce Harper tripped over his helmet while running to second base, and this was no accident: his helmet viciously attacked him. Years of watching wrestling tells me this was the correct strategy for the helmet: you always take out the legs of the bigger guy.
- We probably could have paid more attention to the MLB Draft, but why do that when we could draft Avengers and Marvel Cinematic Universe characters into baseball teams and then make you vote on which of myself, Grant Brisbee, or Whitney McIntosh did the best job?
Also even if you don’t care about that at all, the art is awesome, so at least go look at that:
- This is the only correct ballot for the National League All-Star team, and you should thank Brisbee for saving you so much time this summer.
- MLB and Cal Ripken’s Hit & Run program aims to teach youth baseball in a much different way than we’re used to.
- Tyler Tynes profiled former baseball player turned politician J.D. Scholten earlier this week: Scholten ended up winning the Democratic primary in Iowa, and will go on to face Steve King for a seat in Congress in November.
- Prop bets are going to be a battleground for MLB and the MLBPA in the future. (Athletic subscription required)
- Ben Lindbergh would like you to stop pretending pitchers can hit so that we can get on with having the DH in both leagues.
- Ohtani’s blister isn’t the only Angels’ injury in the news, as Andrelton Simmons is on the disabled list with a sprained ankle.
- Luke Heimlich, who pled guilty to molesting his then-6-year-old niece, was not drafted by any MLB team during the 40 rounds he could have been. This suggests, to me, that teams leaked to the media that they could draft him mostly to tease out a reaction from fans: considering he went undrafted, you can guess which way the majority of reactions went.
- Anyway, I bring up Heimlich not just to remind you of all of that or hypothesize about leaks, but to point you to this fantastic piece on Heimlich and winning at the cost of silence.
- Kyler Murray will be paid to play baseball, and the NCAA sees that as different from the situation with other college athletes.
- Derek Holland wants to use “LastName” on his Players Weekend jersey.
- Here’s an over-the-shoulder catch from a fan also holding a baby. You’re welcome.
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