A few days ago, news broke that Shohei Ohtani would probably have Tommy John surgery for his damaged UCL. He’s been undergoing therapy for his ligament for a few months now and the hope was that those treatments and some rest from pitching (he recently returned to the team as a batter) would be enough to avoid going under the knife, which would mean missing next season and possibly a chunk of the following year.
Shohei Ohtani will end the season as a hitter and is undecided about Tommy John surgery
If he wants to pitch again, surgery is the recommended treatment.
Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Now, Ohtani says that he is not completely sure he will have the surgery — although he seems resigned to it and just needs time to come to terms with what that means — but will finish this season out at the plate according to the OC Register’s Jeff Fletcher.
Seeing as shortly after it came out he would most likely be getting surgery Ohtani hit two home runs, he’s clearly healthy enough to hit (which we knew) and wants to have one more month of raking before he is out of commission for who knows how long.
Fletcher also reports, no less surprisingly but hearteningly, that Ohtani has not considered giving up one half of his two-way playing setup. As much as the Angels might want him to to preserve his health and be available on offense next year and beyond. That’s one silver lining, at least. We’ll still have both halves of Ohtani’s magical game whenever he does return. And another month to appreciate him right now.
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