Los Angeles Angels GM Perry Minasian keeps adding more unusual context to the circumstances behind Shohei Ohtani’s elbow injury.
Ohtani will not pitch again in 2023 after suffering a torn UCL, prompting questions about his usage as a two-way player. Minasian said Friday that the Angels had not done any imaging on Ohtani’s arm despite him leaving one start in August due to cramping issues and having another skipped due to fatigue.
Minasian added even more context on Saturday. The Angels GM said the team had offered to do an MRI after one of Ohtani’s cramping episodes, but Ohtani and his camp deemed it unnecessary.
Perry Minasian just revealed that the Angels offered to do an MRI on Ohtani’s arm after his cramping episode earlier this month and Ohtani and his agent refused because they didn’t think it was necessary.
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 26, 2023
While this may look like the Angels deflecting blame toward Ohtani, Jeff Fletcher of the SoCal News Group did say he believed the team would have cleared it with Ohtani’s camp before releasing the information. Still, it only raises further questions about Ohtani’s injury. Should Ohtani have been smarter, or should the Angels have been more aggressive in trying to get the two-way star checked out? Perhaps more relevantly, would it have even made a difference?
Ohtani still plans to hit as long as he is able. It’s safe to say he would not have wanted to sit out no matter what.
