Angels fans let out a collect sigh of relief this mid-day regarding Shohei Ohtani‘s when Ken Rosenthal tweeted the following:
#Angels GM Billy Eppler: “There have been no changes in Ohtani’s diagnosis and neither our physicians nor medical staff have recommended (Tommy John surgery) or said it’s likely.”
The Angels announced Friday that Ohtani has a grade 2 sprain of the UCL in his right elbow.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 11, 2018
A “grade 2 sprain of the UCL in his right elbow,” as team physicians are calling it, is not nearly as bad as some of the early speculation about Ohtani.
But, please remember, the Angels have had a history of downplaying injuries. It was two years ago when Angels pitcher Garrett Richards left a game early.
The Angels officially announced, shortly after, that Richards was pulled due to a simple case of dehydration. Not long after, it was announced that Richards was done for the season with a torn UCL.
You could even make the argument that Matt Shoemaker‘s scary injury earlier this year was underplayed, as well as Andrew Heaney‘s injury.
So, as much as I truly respect Ken Rosenthal, I simply do not believe yet that Ohtani’s injury is a sprain of the UCL. The blame for that rests solely with the Angels organization.
