Sucks. In a era where pitchers are getting even worse as batters, and I hate it, suddenly this guy shows up bucking all "common sense." I hope he successfully comes back in a couple years.
I will be honest, this does not upset me in the least. Yes this is selfish, but to me, the Astros = baseball.
Not sure about that. He was basically on the same schedule as every 2-way HS and college player: pitch 1 game a week and DH 3 or so others. Totally agree on wanting him back healthy, he was really fun to watch.
Why do major league pitchers get these injuries but college players do not? Is it because of the pressure of having to throw the extra 2 miles per hour to gain an edge or is it because we just don't hear about it?
TJS frequency has blown up (pun totally intended) in teenagers. They throw too much, too often, but not the right kind of throwing (long toss and exercises to build up the arm). They're going all out all the time all year 'round and often times are trying to throw breaking balls that they have neither the physical ability or the proper coaching to throw properly.
Oh, I meant at the pro level. Should have been more specific. I've always liked that pitchers still know how to hit the ball even all the way up through college, and it's always kind of bugged me that that goes away in the pros. That said, I've made my peace with it, and have switched over from being a diehard NL rules fan my whole life, since that's how it is. But that doesn't make Ohtani any less exciting, so I'm pulling for him.
Saw Rio Ruiz play yesterday. He does not look like he will have much of a MLB career, small sample size and all. grumble mumble should have posted this to the Former Astros thread
Ohtani's injury was just a matter of time, I don't know why they still let people pitch with "inverted W" mechanics, but any time you see a pitcher who throws like that, they are constantly 1 timing error away from blowing out their elbow making it just a matter of time. Given that, I think it would be best for him to give up on pitching and focus on his hitting. Even when he comes back, he'll still be one timing error away from injury given how he throws. It could be another elbow injury, it could be a shoulder injury this time but the "inverted W" mechanics are just a ticking time bomb.
Sigh ... why did he sign with the Angels? Do they even know what they're doing? That said, pitchers come back from TJ stronger than ever. Will miss a year though.
His velocity dropped off sharply in Sunday's game. Angels will be blasted for pitching him again this season but perhaps it was just a matter of time and it's best to get the surgery over with now.
It didn't really matter. If he had the surgery 3 months ago or this week he is out all of next year. They were hoping to get lucky like Tanaka with the Yankees.
Tanaka is also nowhere near his prime compared to Ohtani. Partially torn ligaments have a greater chance of sustaining re-injury vs healing. Maybe if he rested for the whole year and most of next year... but that’s not really all that significantly different from the TJS timeline which has the potential to fix the issue for good. I also don’t believe that him batting added “nothing” to the injury risk. Most good hitters do use their elbows to swing bats.
He's hit 2 Homers tonight and is 4-4. I think he'll come around to giving up pitching if he can get a $300 million contract with his bat alone, but the question is will the ligament damage ever need to be operated on. The TJ ligaments are still something you can aggravate as a batter.
There's talk they may make him an OF next year after the surgery? An OF that doesn't throw? I just think they're playing with fire... he's a transcendent player as a pitcher/hitter. If he ends up only being an OF, he may or may not be an all-star... but I see hitters tend to fade with more exposure/scouting vs. a pitcher with as much pure stuff as him.
