Angels' Shohei Ohtani's torn UCL creates a cloud over upcoming free agency

The news was devastating, heartbreaking, leaving the baseball world cursing to the heavens. 

The greatest show on earth was cruelly ripped away from us in a late night Los Angeles Angels press conference. 

Instead of having a chance for one last celebration this season, one last ovation to show our appreciation, we’re left with the numbing news that Shohei Ohtani’s historic two-way season is over. 

Ohtani, who gave his heart, soul and now his arm to the Angels, no longer will be able to pitch again this season. 

He was informed Wednesday that he has a torn UCL in his right elbow, which could require Tommy John elbow surgery, ending his 2023 season on the mound, and perhaps creating a seismic shift in his future. 

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Ohtani, who’s a free agent in 10 weeks, just saw potentially hundreds of millions of dollars evaporate into the night. 

Teams who coveted him as the greatest pitching/power punch in baseball history, now will be looking at him as one of the game’s elite hitters, but having no idea whether he’ll again be dominant on the mound. 

Ohtani, who was expected to command at least $500 million and become the highest-paid athlete in team sports’ history, was told of the horrifying news during Game 1 of the doubleheader. 

He could have told the Angels he was done for the season. 

At the least, go on the injured list, giving him time to clear his head. 

Instead, he insisted on playing again, went back onto the field for the second game of the doubleheader, and took his usual place in the lineup as a designated hitter. 

Unreal. 

“The fact that he played [the second game] to me,’’ Angels GM Perry Minasian told reporters, “is beyond impressive.’’ 

This is a guy who homers in his first at-bat in the doubleheader, leaves the game in the second inning with his velocity dropping, tells the Angels he has elbow pain, undergoes an MRI, is diagnosed with a torn UCL, and returns to the lineup as if he had nothing more than a slight headache. 

He doubles in the fifth inning of Game 2, has a playful exchange with Cincinnati Reds rookie Elly De La Cruz who touches him while wondering if he was real, and Ohtani acts as if it’s just another glorious day at the park. 

It wasn’t until Minasian sat behind the dais after the doubleheader and delivered the sobering news that Ohtani’s season on the mound was over. 

“Obviously, disappointing news,’’ Minasian said. “I feel terrible for him. But it is what it is. I know if anybody can bounce back, it’s him.’’ 

It’s unknown whether Ohtani will need surgery. He underwent Tommy John elbow surgery in 2018, and didn’t have his breakout season on the mound until 2021, captivating the world with his gift to be our modern-day Babe Ruth, unanimously winning the AL MVP award. 

While Minasian’s words hung into the air, he came back with the second knockout blow, saying that three-time MVP Mike Trout was returning to the injured list after playing just one game after recovering from his broken hamate bone. 

You talk about cruel and unusual punishment to a franchise. 

Just three weeks ago, they were all in, deciding to keep Ohtani at the deadline and trade away their top prospects to help them get into the postseason for the first time since 2014. 

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Now, they are in a free-fall, hopelessly out of the wild-card race with a 10 ½-game deficit, and wondering whether Ohtani will ever throw another pitch in an Angels’ uniform. 

He ends his season as a pitcher with a 3.14 ERA, major league-low .184 opponent’s batting average, and 167 strikeouts in 132 innings − striking out more batters per nine innings than all but three starting pitchers. 

He’ll now be relegated to solely being a DH where leads the league with 44 home runs, just three shy of the Angels’ franchise record. 

The man certainly gave it his all for the Angels, leaving two starts early with cramps, sitting out two weeks for fatigue, and coming back for one final inning until his elbow gave out. 

“He never complained about anything,’’ Minasian said. “He had cramps. He was dehydrated. But today is the day he came out of the game, and said, 'Hey, I have some pain in the elbow area.' 

“That was the first day we heard of any type of pain.’’ 

It was just a month ago on July 27, in the first game of a doubleheader in Detroit, that Ohtani threw a one-hit shutout. He came out of the second game of the doubleheader because of body cramps. He was limited to four innings in his next start against Seattle. He allowed just three hits and one unearned run in six innings just six days later against the San Francisco Giants. He was then shut down from pitching for two weeks to allow his body to recover from fatigue until Wednesday. 

He lasted 26 pitches when Ohtani looked into the Angels’ dugout after throwing a fastball to Reds first baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand, shook his head, and manager Phil Nevin and trainer Mike Frostad came to the mound and escorted him off the field. 

This wasn’t a matter of being overworked, Minasian insists, but simply the byproduct of being a pitcher. 

“He performed multiple years doing what he’s done,’’ Minasian said. “Injuries happen. I’ve seen pitchers with a lot less workload have these injuries. When you throw with the velo he does, injuries occur. … 

“I believe he’ll be back, and he’ll be able to do both again, at a very high level.’’ 

Maybe. 

Maybe not. 

No matter, the injury leaves teams suddenly looking drastically differently at Ohtani. 

Can he possibly return to being one of the greatest pitchers in the game again, or even pitch? 

If he needs surgery, and can’t pitch, how long would it take for him to even play the outfield again? 

How long will he be limited to simply being a DH? 

So many questions, so few answers. 

All we know is that Ohtani has proven to be mortal. 

His body, like every other athlete, can’t hold up forever. 

But his heart, does anyone have a bigger one? 

Ohtani may be hurt, stopping him from pitching again this season, or limited as a two-way player in the future, but, oh, how his legend just catapulted into baseball folklore. 

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