ANAHEIM, Calif. — Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse for the Los Angeles Angels, Wednesday happened. Not only were the Angels swept in a doubleheader at home by the Cincinnati Reds, but they got the news that superstar Shohei Ohtani has a UCL tear in his pitching arm.
Ohtani started the first game of the twin set but left after only one and one-third innings. His velocity was noticeably down, and his pitches just didn’t have the same movement. At the time, the Angels were calling it right-arm fatigue.
Then Angels GM Perry Minasian delivered the devastating news, saying, “It’s a tough day for him. It’s a tough day for all of us.”
Jon and Mike Frisch of Locked On Angels discussed the Ohtani news on the latest episode.
“It’s a UCL tear, very similar to what happened to him in 2018 when he first came over,” Jon Frisch said. Mike added that he thought Ohtani looked great in the first inning of yesterday’s outing, and nothing seemed wrong.
Ohtani struck out two in his first inning of work and then hit a two-run bomb in the bottom of the first to give the Angels a 2-0 lead. Then in the top of the second, Ohtani motioned to the dugout that something was wrong.
In between the two games of the doubleheader, Ohtani got imaging done on his arm, which is when they found the tear, but he still played in the second game as a hitter and went 1-5 with a double.
A UCL tear indicates Ohtani is done as a pitcher in 2023. After Ohtani had Tommy John surgery in 2018, he was the Angels designated hitter in 2019, then returned to pitching in 2020. Things may be different this time since this is his second UCL tear, and the recovery time for pitchers is longer.
This injury could also complicate his free agency. Mike Frisch said, “This (news) changes the whole trajectory of what happens this offseason.” It was expected that Ohtani would become the highest-paid MLB player ever this offseason. There were estimates of $500M contracts being offered to the current MLB home run leader. And it still could happen, but this injury also could make teams more cautious about wanting to spend upwards of half a billion dollars on a two-way player who might not be able to pitch again until 2025.
This is all speculation, of course. Ohtani is getting a second opinion on his elbow, but the injury news is still a blow to the Angels, who decided to go for it at the trade deadline and not trade Ohtani. They weren’t too far out for the third Wild Card spot at the time and not only kept Ohtani but traded for starter Lucas Giolito, outfielder Randal Grichuk, and first baseman CJ Cron.
Since then, they’ve gone 5-16, the worst record in baseball during that span; they’re now 10.5 games out of that coveted third Wild Card spot and will to fight to get back into it without their star pitcher on the bump.
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