Shohei Ohtani's first pitching start in 14 days was cut short Wednesday, as he was pulled from a game against the Reds in just the second inning due to fatigue.
Ohtani was pulled after a short conversation on the mound following a seemingly routine pitch. He paced around the mound after the pitch, and the Angels training staff came out with Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani's translator.
Injuries have plagued the second half of Ohtani's season. He suffered cramping in late July. He's experienced finger cramping throughout August, which kept him from pitching even as he continued to DH.
Shohei Ohtani has left the mound with the trainer and is out of the game pic.twitter.com/Oy5TfVyo6H
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) August 23, 2023
Things are not going well for the Angels. They entered Wednesday 10 games back of the Mariners for the final wild card spot and 3-7 in their last 10. Mike Trout's return to the lineup Tuesday engendered some excitement, but the sun seems to be setting on the Orange County for 2023.
MORE: Will Shohei Ohtani need Tommy John surgery?
What happened to Shohei Ohtani?
Ohtani has suffered a torn UCL and won't pitch again this season, general manager Perry Minasian announced Wednesday. No decision has been made yet about whether the 29-year-old will have surgery to repair the injury, which comes just months before his much-anticipated free agency.
Ohtani was pulled from the second inning of Angels vs. Reds with what the team called "arm fatigue." He was evaluated extensively in wake of being pulled and didn't speak to reporters after the game because of it.
Ohtani learned about the tear with an MRI after Game 1 of the Angels' doubleheader. Minasian said Ohtani wanted to hit in Game 2 despite the injury.
“He’s a mentally strong individual,” Minasian said. “To do what he does you have to be.”
An intriguing note that was dropped by Minasian is about the timing of the imaging on Ohtani. The Angels GM confirmed that the team did not conduct any imaging on the arm when Ohtani was out due to fatigue. It was only this week that the tear was revealed.
Here's the quote from Minasian, asked about imaging between Ohtani mentioning fatigue and then the imaging the revealed the tear Wedensday.
— Laura Albanese (@AlbaneseLaura) August 25, 2023
"No (no imaging then). No, there was no arm issue – just fatigue, tired, cramping, dehydration." https://t.co/gNLW5p1YHs
Minasian clarified a day later that it was Ohtani and his camp's decision to not get the arm examined as they did not feel it was necessary.
Perry Minasian just revealed that the Angels offered to do an MRI on Ohtani’s arm after his cramping episode earlier this month and Ohtani and his agent refused because they didn’t think it was necessary.
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 26, 2023
Phil Nevin said a player refusing an MRI is not unusual. “There are many times I was asked to take an MRI and I said ‘no, I’m playing.’”
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 26, 2023
The Angels are currently seeking a second opinion on Ohtani before a decision on an operation is made.
According to Alden Gonzalez, Ohtani is going stay with the team and hit while next steps are determined.
Sure enough, Ohtani was in the Angels lineup as the DH Friday against the Mets at Citi Field. Per Deesha Thosar, Ohtani is going to continue hitting until he himself says otherwise.
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Angels manager Phil Nevin spoke on behalf of Ohtani and said that the two-way phenom "just didn't feel right," per ESPN.
"He told me he didn't feel any pain," Nevin told reporters. "It was just more of the same thing he's been feeling for the last couple of weeks."
Ohtani was making his first start on the mound he threw six innings on Aug. 9. He started OK in the first inning and hit his 44th home run of the season at the plate.
However, Nevin noted that the pitcher's velocity was down in the second inning.
"I was noticing the shapes on his pitches just weren't the same, and I just saw a look after a pitch, so I decided to go out there and check on him," Nevin said.
Nevin would describe the incident in more detail at a later date.
"He threw a pitch and looked in the dugout, and it's his look that I haven't gotten before. So I grabbed the trainer and we went out to the mound," Nevin said, per ESPN. "He didn't say he had pain at the time, either, just knew that something wasn't right. And when we came in, he kind of let us know that he was feeling some issues in a certain spot, which he had never done before."
The Angels manager has also been insistent that, despite Ohtani missing his previous start with arm fatigue, he didn't show any signs of injury. As far as both parties know, the injury occurred when Ohtani threw his 26th and final pitch of the game against the Reds.
"People want to speculate all they want," Nevin said. "He just felt what he called fatigue, a little tired. But when he got through a week after missing the start, he felt great all week. He threw great bullpens, and he just went amiss there in the second inning."