The noise around Ohtani’s injury

This story was excerpted from Rhett Bollinger’s Angels Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

PHILADELPHIA — One of the unfortunate things about pitching, especially because of the unnatural motion of throwing a baseball overhand with maximum force, is that injuries happen.

Some wanted to point fingers after two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani tore his ulnar collateral ligament during his last start on Wednesday, but it appears to be an injury that couldn’t have been prevented and occurred during his start.

“I think everyone in that room is wondering, ‘Could we have done anything differently?’” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “You sit here and rack your brain about it and beat yourself up over it. But no, there’s not anything you can do. These injuries happen and it stinks.”

Ohtani had dealt with a few issues this season, including a blister on his right middle finger, cramping in that same finger during his start on Aug. 3 and arm fatigue that caused him to skip his start leading into Wednesday’s outing. But he had never complained about elbow pain until he exited his start against the Reds, which prompted him to get an MRI exam.

And, as general manager Perry Minasian pointed out, Ohtani and his agent, Nez Balelo, declined to have imaging done on Ohtani’s arm after his start on Aug. 3, which he left after four scoreless innings because of cramping in his right middle finger. Ohtani also threw his bullpen session ahead of his start without any issues and said he was good to go to start in Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader.

“There’s injuries that happen in baseball,” Minasian said. “This is an unfortunate one. It’s obviously tough for him, for us and for baseball.”

For now, the Angels are still waiting on Ohtani to get his second opinion on his elbow with the help of his representation. It still hasn’t been decided if he’ll need Tommy John surgery for a second time, although that does seem the most likely outcome. But it was interesting that Minasian said the tear is in a different part of his UCL than his tear in 2018. Minasian, though, has yet to reveal if it’s a full tear or a partial tear, or what kind of grade of tear the MRI revealed.

Until he decides his next course of action, Ohtani will remain the club’s regular designated hitter. He’s unsurprisingly fared well offensively in four games since finding out his diagnosis, including asking to play in Game 2 of Wednesday’s doubleheader despite hearing about his torn UCL in between the two games. He’s hit .286 over his last four games, including going 3-for-9 with two doubles, a triple, two stolen bases and five walks against the Mets over the weekend.

But with Ohtani out of the rotation, the Angels will have to lean on a combination of Lucas Giolito, Tyler Anderson, Reid Detmers, Patrick Sandoval, Griffin Canning and Chase Silseth the rest of the way.

Nevin said they plan to stick with a six-man rotation for now, although some of that could depend on if Silseth can make his next start after being hit in the head by a throw from third to first on Saturday. Silseth was treated at a local hospital but released that night and the Angels are hopeful he avoided major injury but will continue to monitor his symptoms.

“A [five-man rotation] is a possibility but right now we have six guys we want to see start,” Nevin said. “But it is something we’ve done with Sandy, moving him to pitch on four days’ rest, and same with Detmers. And Giolito has been doing it all year. But we do have some options, even if Chase misses a few days.”