Angels’ Scioscia: ‘No restrictions’ for Ohtani
By Sam Dykstra/MiLB.com
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Angels’ big splash to sign top overall prospect Shohei Ohtani started to look like a big scare Tuesday night, when a Yahoo Sports report noted that a recent physical showed the two-way star had a sprain in his right ulnar collateral ligament and was previously given a platelet-rich plasma injection to deal with the pain.
When Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia spoke at the Winter Meetings, however, he stressed that the club isn’t worried at all.
“No, I think that’s past him,” Scioscia said of the elbow injury. “Our understanding is no restrictions at all going into Spring Training. He’ll get down there with plenty of time and be ready to play.”
The Halos signed Ohtani to a $2.315 million bonus last Friday after they were named one of the seven finalists for the Japan native’s services. Ohtani will work as both a starting right-handed pitcher and part-time DH upon his move to the Majors, simply because he has the tools to do so. In naming him the game’s top prospect, MLB.com gave Ohtani an 80 grade for his fastball — which can hit triple digits — a 65 for his splitter/forkball and average grades for his curve, slider and changeup. He also has plus power from the left side of the plate and is considered a plus runner.
Scioscia said the club is still determining how Ohtani can best fill both roles, but general manager Billy Eppler has mentioned a six-man rotation as being a way to keep not just Ohtani but the whole Angels starting staff healthy. The skipper said he’s open to the idea.
“It’s something we’re considering,” said Scioscia. “Some rotations function better with pitchers pitching on normal rest — four days’ rest and pitching on the fifth. Some guys certainly have a track record of being more effective when that happens. With Shohei, there’s a lot of things we’re going to consider about how many starts he’s going to get or where he’s going to fit in our rotation. We haven’t made any determination. But it’s something to consider.”
No matter what, Ohtani’s rookie season will be the most unusual in recent memory, and his new manager is ready to plug him into the lineup in as many ways as he can.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a challenge,” Scioscia said. “I think it’s an opportunity to show some creativity. It’s not going to be a situation where you have to do this or you have to do that. In baseball, you’d much rather have parts that you’re trying to use than to buy parts that you’re trying to use. With Shohei, there’s going to be a balance there of pitching and hitting. We’ll assess it, go into Spring Training, have an idea, make sure he’s going into Spring Training with enough at-bats and certainly [get] a pitch count where it needs to be and hopefully hit the ground running.”
