Shohei Ohtani had his season interrupted, and nearly ended completely, by an elbow injury. After receiving rest and a platelet-rich plasma injection, though, Ohtani was able to make it back to the Angels’ lineup. Now, there’s a chance he could be coming back to the mound, too: the two-way star has been cleared to begin throwing progression, and that could mean his season as a pitcher isn’t over after all.
Shohei Ohtani cleared to start throwing, baseball might be good again
Friday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at the latest in Shohei Ohtani’s recovery from an elbow injury.
Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
The odds still aren’t necessarily in Ohtani’s or the Angels’ favor here, as beginning to ramp up throwing could prove that it’s going to take surgery to fix the damage within his elbow. Coming back from a Grade 2 ligament sprain without going under the knife isn’t unheard of, but it’s also not the result we see most often in this situation.
So, you should feel some excitement that hey, maybe Shohei Ohtani will come back, and we can enjoy the hitting and pitching phenomenon like we did in the good old days of April and May. Or, maybe he won’t be able to pitch again this year, and we’ll still get to see him hitting as the Angels’ regular designated hitter. Or, he won’t be able to pitch against this year, and it will be clear that surgery is the only option, and we’ll have to bid adieu to Ohtani in the present and short-term future, too, as he’ll get Tommy John and be out for the rest of 2018 as well as a significant chunk of 2019 given how late into the season we are.
Man, that paragraph got more depressing the longer it got.
Let’s focus on the positive. Ohtani wasn’t pitching because he was hurt. Now his elbow seems to have improved enough that he’s been approved to begin throwing, and if that goes well, he’ll throw more and harder, and if that goes well, he’ll be back on a mound this summer. And if that works out? Well, he’ll have an offseason of rest and a fresh start in 2019, hopefully with an elbow that successfully escaped an operating table.
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