MLB: The Year 1 of Two-Way-Sensation Shohei Ohtani

Shohei Ohtani’s year 1 in Major League Baseball is coming to an end – the Los Angeles Angels have had nothing to do with the playoffs for some time now. How has the Japanese fared and what happens next with the Two-Way-Player, whose elbow needs repair?

Shohei Ohtani and his Los Angeles Angels can be seen at LIVESTREAM FOR FREE on SPOX on Sunday (8.10 pm). Then the Californians will compete in the Champion Houston Astros.

Ohtani was the attraction of the league on the free agent market in winter 2017/18 and then at the Los Angeles Angels at the start of this season and actually to this day. He tried something that no one had been able to do since Babe Ruth in his early days in the second decade of the 20th century: to be successful as a pitcher and hitter.

The Angels had to promise him this when they recruited him, otherwise he would not have come. And so they basically implemented the routine that the Nippon-Ham Fighters already used in the Japanese league: As part of a six-rotation he mainly pitched on Sundays and always acted as designated hitter except on the day before and after a start.

From a purely sporting point of view, this went very well! Looking at the numbers, Ohtani leads all American League rookies with 162 wRC+ (weighted runs created plus). And this by a clear margin on the up-and-coming Ji-Man Choi (142 wRC+), who was conjured out of the hat by the Rays only recently.

Its wOBA (weighted on-base average), which is at .404, is also well ahead of the competition. All in all, regardless of certain environmental factors, we believe that this will be the American League’s most effective offensive rookie in 2018.

What about pitching? Due to his elbow problems, Ohtani only made 51 2/3 innings on the mound. But he made the best of it and finally came in at an impressive 10.97 strikeouts per nine innings and a solid Fielding Independent Pitching of 3.56. In addition, he was worth 1 WAR – as a hitter even 2.9. So we’re talking about a rookie who was worth almost four victories more to his team than a fictitious average replacement!

However, the fact that there were only ten starts is due to his elbow, which could have a massive influence on Ohtani’s immediate future.

It all started on June 6th with a rather harmless bladder problem on the throwing hand. During the treatment of the finger – a drainage – Ohtani suddenly felt a kind of muscle ache in the elbow. An MRI then revealed a second degree compression of the collateral ligament.

This was followed by a rather conservative treatment with platelet-rich plasma and stem cells to avoid the infamous Tommy John surgery. With success, they thought, because at the beginning of July he already made his comeback – as DH!

Even if rumours of an operation were already circulating, the Angels around General Manager Billy Eppler did everything to deny this. Meanwhile, Ohtani continued his strong rookie season at the record and even found success over time against Leftys, who had dominated him at the beginning.

On July 18, he even started a litter program with the goal of returning to Mound in 2018. This in turn happened at the beginning of September. The thinking was clear: the treatments could only do so much, it was time to see how the elbow would keep under full load.

With all the medical data at our disposal – the ultrasound and MRIs that are part of the physical data, the real-time data during the throwing units, the TrackMan data, the scouting assessments, the player’s feedback – we were confident that the tape was ready for the next step,” Eppler explained the decision to pit Ohtani.

In short: The elbow did not hold! Ohtani started against the Houston Astros and started the first inning at 99.3 miles per hour on his fast ball and everything looked good. He was then hit by a comebacker at the throwing hand and his speed dropped to a manageable 92.6 MPH in the third. Reason enough for Manager Mike Scioscia to finish the experiment.

Another MRI finally revealed that the damage to his collateral ligament had become even more severe. And this time the Angels made no secret of the doctors’ opinion: Tommy John Surgery!

To this day, there is no decision as to whether and if so, when the Japanese will go under the knife. But one thing is clear: If Ohtani opts for surgery, he could very probably not pitch in 2019. It is also clear: OP or not, the club could continue to swing and probably even without interruption.

From the Angels’ point of view, there are no upsides to let Ohtani act as DH until the end of the season and then operate on him. But it wouldn’t be a disadvantage either. A position player usually recovers from an elbow reconstruction within about six months. So Ohtani would also have enough time to be back on the dam by the beginning of October.

The reason for this is that the sideband is loaded differently when the club is swinging than when the ball is thrown. The latter, however, is neither advisable nor effective in the current state of the tape.

So if Ohtani wants to pitch and beat again in the future, then it needs the surgery. If, on the other hand, he says goodbye to pitching, then he could probably do without surgery.

A full-time DH Ohtani would not only have advantages for the Angels in the coming year. The problem would be that Albert Pujols would have to play first base every day. He himself dares to do the whole thing despite his knee being repaired again and various other cleanup procedures, but it doesn’t seem advisable to use the 39-year-old so often in the field.

And to put Ohtani – like in Japan in former times – into the outfield is also difficult, because with Justin Upton, Mike Trout and Kole Calhoun an established trio is set there. One that is also defensively convincing and certainly should not be torn apart.

Whatever Ohtani decides now, you can already say after only one season: The Ohtani-Transfer was more than only worthwhile for the Angels! Even knowing that the sideband was already torn before the change – at that time a compression of the first degree was noticed – the new addition made sense.

For many experts, Ohtani is Rookie of the Year in the AL. And this despite the longer injury break and the strong seasons of Yankees youngsters Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres. Ohtani set standards and you don’t have the feeling that he would have come even close to his limit.

And even if he misses 2019 completely – very unlikely – one has to consider that Ohtani is a huge bargain due to the current international transfer system. Ohtani earns only $545,000 this year – plus, of course, the 2.3 million in hand money and the 20 million that went to the Ham Fighters. But it’s all peanuts, considering what superstars usually cost these days.

Ohtani knew how to convince and silence skeptics in the first year. Now it is a question of developing further. Its potential seems endless if health plays along.

This article was published without previous view by the Major League Baseball.