ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani had elbow surgery Tuesday, September 19, and his doctor said he expects the two-way star will be available as a hitter on opening day next season and will return to the mound as a pitcher in 2025.
Ohtani tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow on Aug. 23, ending his pitching season. He continued as a batter through Sept. 3 until an oblique strain.
Los Angeles Dodgers head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache operated Tuesday at the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles. He said in a statement that the sides decided to “reinforce the healthy ligament in place,” suggesting the UCL wasn’t reconstructed via Tommy John surgery.
ElAttrache also performed Tommy John surgery on Ohtani on Oct. 1, 2018.
“I had a procedure done on my elbow earlier this morning and everything went very well,” Ohtani said in a post on Instagram. “Thank you very much for everyone’s prayers and kind words. It was very unfortunate that I couldn’t finish out the year on the field, but I will be rooting on the boys until the end. I will work as hard as I can and do my best to come back on the diamond stronger than ever.”
Nez Balelo, Ohtani’s agent, issued a statement released by the Angels. Balelo did not go into specifics on the type of surgery.
“The final decision and type of procedure was made with a heavy emphasis on the big picture,” Balelo said. “Shohei wanted to make sure the direction taken gave him every opportunity to hit and pitch for many years to come.”
The 29-year-old Ohtani leads the AL with 44 homers and has 96 RBIs, eight triples and 20 stolen bases. He was 10–5 with a 3.14 ERA in 23 starts, striking out 167 and walking 55 in 132 innings.
“The ultimate plan after deliberation with Shohei, was to repair the issue at hand and to reinforce the healthy ligament in place while adding viable tissue for the longevity of the elbow,“ ElAttrache said in a statement released by the Angels. ”I expect full recovery and he’ll be ready to hit without any restrictions come opening day of 2024 and do both (hit and pitch) come 2025.”
Ohtani is eligible for free agency after the World Series. Before the elbow injury, there was speculation he would get a record contract of $500 million or more.
Basabe Hits 2–run Double in 8th as the Rays Beat the Angels 6–2
Osleivis Basabe hit a tiebreaking two-run double in a four-run eighth inning and the playoff-bound Tampa Bay Rays beat the Los Angeles Angels 6–2 on Tuesday night.Tampa Bay loaded the bases with one out against Aaron Loup (2–3) before Basabe lined his hit to center over the head of former Rays’ player Brett Phillips. René Pinto followed with a single that drove in two more runs.
“I was a little anxious going into that at-bat, especially after having a couple strikeouts earlier in the day,” Basabe said through a translator. “I knew I had hit it well. I didn’t realize he was playing so far in. Once I saw that he was running back, I was hoping it would score those runs.”
Basabe was called up from Triple-A Durham last month when Wander Franco was placed on administrative leave indefinitely by Major League Baseball while authorities in the Dominican Republic investigate the Tampa Bay Rays’ All-Star shortstop for an alleged relationship with a minor.
Randy Arozarena homered for the AL wild card-leading Rays, who started the day 2 1/2 games behind first-place Baltimore in the AL East. The Orioles, who were playing the Houston Astros, hold the tiebreaker.
“We’re playing for the division,” Arozarena said through a translator. “The 10 games from here on out are very important for us in order to win that division.”
Logan O’Hoppe and Zach Neto homered for the Angels, who have lost six in a row.
Los Angeles left fielder Randal Grichuk departed with two outs in the ninth after being hit by a high pitch by Shawn Armstrong.
Angels manager Phil Nevin said the pitch got Grichuk “pretty square” on the helmet extension that protects the face.
“He seems to checking out fine,” Nevin said.
Tampa Bay needed just five pitches to take a 2–0 lead in the first when Yandy Díaz had a leadoff double and Arozarena followed with his 23rd homer off Patrick Sandoval.
Díaz had three hits to lift his batting average from from .319 to .323.
O’Hoppe made it 2–1 on a fourth-inning solo homer off rookie Taj Bradley. Neto tied it at 2 against Robert Stephenson (3–4) in the eighth.
Sandoval allowed two runs and five hits in five innings.
“After the first three hitters, I thought he threw the ball very well,” Nevin said. “It’s just the pitch count (of 100) got high. No reason to push him any further.”
Bradley gave up one run and three hits over five innings and had his winless streak reach 10 starts, dating to June 27.
