Los Angeles Angels: Shohei Ohtani making progress

Los Angeles Angels designated hitter/pitcher Shohei Ohtani is making progress in his rehab from offseason Tommy John surgery.

Shoehi Ohtani, last year’s rookie of the year, two-way playing phenom was seen throwing off the mound for the first time since he underwent Tommy John surgery.  This is really good news for the Los Angeles Angels (42-40), because they started the season without Ohtani as he recovered.

We will see if he ends up pitching at all this season, but the Angels sure could use him in the starting rotation.  They rank 22nd in all of baseball in team ERA at 4.86 as well as 13th in opponents batting average at .245.

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The Angels absolutely need Ohtani, more so in the batter’s box to pair with perennial All-Star Mike Trout, but they need him on the mound as well.  Last year Ohtani went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA in 51 2/3 innings pitched and 63 strikeouts.  Pretty impressive for a rookie.

Shohei Ohtani is slashing .290/.352/.519 with 10 home runs and 33 RBI’s.  It will be interesting to see how the Angels handle him starting to throw off the mound.  The pressure from the fan base will be enormous to have him return to the mound.

I feel like the Angels will be good in taking a conservative approach with him returning to the mound.  There shouldn’t be any pressure to rush him back as he’s producing at the plate and that is important right now.  They are also 8 games behind the Houston Astros (52-30) for the division lead, so in striking distance.

I really enjoyed watching Ohtani work last season and hope he continues to perform well, not just at the plate, but on the pitcher’s mound once he is able to rehab fully and get back into the swing of things.

The one thing which will be interesting is how the Los Angeles Angels handle his return back to the mound.  Do they send their starting DH to the minors for a rehab pitching start?

Can they send him down to pitch and then immediately recall him?  I don’t have the answers to those questions, but we will get them, hopefully sooner rather than later.