Shohei Ohtani’s attempts to return from an oblique injury officially ended abruptly Saturday, when the Los Angeles Angels announced he had been placed on the injured list and will be out for the remainder of the season.
Ohtani, a near shoe-in to be named the American League’s Most Valuable Player for the second time in the last three years, injured his right oblique during an impromptu session of outdoor batting practice September 4 and went on to miss the next 11 games.
Ohtani’s team has yet to make a concrete decision on, or, at least, announce publicly a course of action for his torn ulnar collateral ligament, which ended his season as a pitcher near the end of August.
A free agent at season’s end, Ohtani was seen leaving Angel Stadium by two eyewitnesses around 4 p.m. PT on Friday. After the game, his locker had mostly been emptied out. Angels general manager Perry Minasian is expected to address the media before his team’s 9 p.m. ET game against the Detroit Tigers.
Ohtani, 29 years-of-age, put together another gem of a season despite the unexpected ending to it, slashing .304/.412/.654 while leading the AL in home runs (44), walks (91) and total bases (325) as a hitter. He also went 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA on the mound in 132 innings of work as a pitcher, striking out 167 batters and issuing 55 walks. Despite pitching and hitting for only about five out of six months, Ohtani’s 9.0 FanGraphs wins above replacement easily leads the majors.
Ohtani has not spoken publicly since August 9, his last full start before learning about his UCL tear when he next took the mound two weeks later. His agent, Nez Balelo of CAA, said September 4 that Ohtani fully intends to be a two-way player again and that regardless of the procedure he undergoes on his elbow, Ohtani will be ready to hit “when the bell rings” at the start of the 2024 season.
