Ohtani has successful Tommy John surgery

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

https://www.mlb.com/news/shohei-ohtanis-tommy-john-surgery-successful/c-296823034

Angels general manager Billy Eppler announced that Shohei Ohtani underwent successful Tommy John surgery Monday.

It remains to be seen what the Angels' 2019 plans are for Ohtani, who also received Major League Baseball's American League Rookie of the Month Award for September on Monday. The surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in Ohtani's right pitching elbow will likely sideline him from the mound until 2020, but he could still see significant time as Los Angeles' designated hitter next season...

[tomsred]

The biggest question now is when will he be available to hit?  We very well might not have him in the first half of 2019.

[Angelsjunky]

I know what the article means, but I'll deem it "successful" when he's about to pitch again.

[failos]

No jerking off for 4 months

[tdawg87]

[Angelsjunky]

It took me a second to realize that was Lt Dan.

[IIIII]

When would we have a solid idea of his timeline for next year? Curious when he will be able to hit.

[Second Base]

I think that's the million dollar question.....if Shohei will be ready in February for Spring Training, and ready for the regular season or if this is something we'll be waiting for until the all-star break next year and seeing him try to hit without any ST.

Just my guess, Gleyber Torres was back in six months with minimal restrictions, and I think that's what we'll see with Shohei.  My guess is he'll miss the first 3-4 weeks of the season in 2019, and then after that we'll see a little bit of a warming up period because he wasn't able to go full "gorilla" in February/March.  But by June next year he'll be his normal self again at the plate.  

But that's a pessimistic view really.  Optimistically speaking he'll be getting back into the swing of things in February, but a part time participant in Spring Training until the final week or two where he'll be a full participant, and then be ready to go in April.

So I guess if Optimistic is April, pessimistic is June, May seems like a fair middle ground I guess. 

[m0nkey]

Has there ever been a TJ surgery that was announced as unsuccessful?

[Homebrewer]

20 minutes ago, IIIII said:

When would we have a solid idea of his timeline for next year? Curious when he will be able to hit.

May or June

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2021

[Bluegrampus]

My question is who will take care of his daily life.

He can't use both hands right?

 

[Lou]

27 minutes ago, Bluegrampus said:

My question is who will take care of his daily life.

He can't use both hands right?

 

Why not?

[Troll Daddy]

I think the earliest will see him will be in May. Angels are going to coddle him and take all precautions before they let him swing a bat.

[eligrba]

2 hours ago, failos said:

No jerking off for 4 months

 

14 minutes ago, Troll Daddy said:

I think the earliest will see him will be in May. Angels are going to coddle him and take all precautions before they let him swing a bat.

Hmmmmm, I wonder who in the organization gets to be in charge of jerking off?

[Second Base]

8 minutes ago, eligrba said:

 

Hmmmmm, I wonder who in the organization gets to be in charge of jerking off?

Judging by the frequency of injury, I'll go with it being co-managed Garrett Richards and Matt Shoemaker.  They're both injured constantly and for the most part it's very nondescript.  It's dehydration, or a nerve issue or some weird bicep thing......just say what it is, they were in charge of masturbation and got carried away with it. 

[Jeff Fletcher]

1 hour ago, m0nkey said:

Has there ever been a TJ surgery that was announced as unsuccessful?

I have a funny story about that.

On one of my first ever days as a baseball beat writer, I was covering the Giants. They put out a release that said Osvaldo Fernandez had successful Tommy John surgery. I sort of buried it because I figured that's not really newsworthy. 

Turns out that Fernandez wasn't supposed to have TJ at all, which I didn't know because it was my first day. He went in for a cleanup and they ended up discovering he needed TJ. 

So that would be unsuccessful-successful surgery.

[Jeff Fletcher]

2 hours ago, Scotty@AW said:

I think that's the million dollar question.....if Shohei will be ready in February for Spring Training, and ready for the regular season or if this is something we'll be waiting for until the all-star break next year and seeing him try to hit without any ST.

Just my guess, Gleyber Torres was back in six months with minimal restrictions, and I think that's what we'll see with Shohei.  My guess is he'll miss the first 3-4 weeks of the season in 2019, and then after that we'll see a little bit of a warming up period because he wasn't able to go full "gorilla" in February/March.  But by June next year he'll be his normal self again at the plate.  

But that's a pessimistic view really.  Optimistically speaking he'll be getting back into the swing of things in February, but a part time participant in Spring Training until the final week or two where he'll be a full participant, and then be ready to go in April.

So I guess if Optimistic is April, pessimistic is June, May seems like a fair middle ground I guess. 

I have heard a lot of different opinions on this, and really no one knows for sure because there's honestly never been a case like his. You can't compare to him Gleyber Torres, because he's got to rehab as a pitcher, which Torres didn't. You also can't compare him to other pitchers, because the Angels want him to hit.

My understanding is that opening day is possible, but maybe in a best-case-scenario world. If it's after that, it still could very well be sometime in April. I think any projections of May-June and very pessimistic, with the caveat that no one really knows.

[Second Base]

31 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I have heard a lot of different opinions on this, and really no one knows for sure because there's honestly never been a case like his. You can't compare to him Gleyber Torres, because he's got to rehab as a pitcher, which Torres didn't. You also can't compare him to other pitchers, because the Angels want him to hit.

My understanding is that opening day is possible, but maybe in a best-case-scenario world. If it's after that, it still could very well be sometime in April. I think any projections of May-June and very pessimistic, with the caveat that no one really knows.

I have to think the Angels wouldn't have been as open to him waiting until the end of the season if they didn't have confidence in him being ready for opening day. Right now, and a few weeks ago as well, April 2019 is more important than September 2018.

[Jeff Fletcher]

14 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

I have to think the Angels wouldn't have been as open to him waiting until the end of the season if they didn't have confidence in him being ready for opening day. Right now, and a few weeks ago as well, April 2019 is more important than September 2018.

You would think that, yet ....

Here we are.

You can't make someone have surgery.

[eligrba4ever]

Ohtani should be able to resume batting practice after four months, in January, doctors who were asked about it said when the subject first came up in the summer. He will NOT be asked to play first base, which requires frequent throwing, or any other field position. He will be a designated hitter. His strength arm as a batter is the left one. He'll presumably continue wearing the elbow pad on the right one.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

4 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

I know what the article means, but I'll deem it "successful" when he's about to pitch again.

Successful = They didn't have to remove his pitching arm

[Second Base]

51 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

You would think that, yet ....

Here we are.

You can't make someone have surgery.

I suppose if it truly was Shohei's decision, then I'd have to think that working off the information provided, he felt he could be ready in April 2019.

[Blarg]

If he went with surgery right away he still doesn't pitch until 2020. And he does that without a Rookie if the Year award. He made the right choice.

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

6 hours ago, tomsred said:

The biggest question now is when will he be available to hit?  We very well might not have him in the first half of 2019.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/la-sp-angels-shohei-ohtani-20180906-story.html#

“I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t be able to hit next season,” said Dr. Luga Podesta, 62, a sports medicine and rehabilitation specialist from Naples, Fla., and a former Dodgers and Angels team physician. “It all depends on how he heals and how he progresses through the rehabilitation for his elbow.

“If he has problems reestablishing his range of motion and his strength, or if there’s any complications with his ulnar nerve, which can become inflamed, there could be setbacks. But if he’s not going to throw and he’s just going to be a designated hitter, he could be back in about six months.”

The chance of a complete recovery from Tommy John surgery is estimated at 80%-90%. The rehabilitation process takes 12 to 18 months for a pitcher, six to 12 months for a position player and as little as six months for a DH like Ohtani.

The first three months of Tommy John rehab are devoted to healing, with a splint or brace protecting the ligament. Players begin range-of-motion, stretching and strengthening exercises in the fourth month, at which point position players can usually begin swinging a bat.

[Jeff Fletcher]

6 minutes ago, Ace-Of-Diamonds said:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/la-sp-angels-shohei-ohtani-20180906-story.html#

“I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t be able to hit next season,” said Dr. Luga Podesta, 62, a sports medicine and rehabilitation specialist from Naples, Fla., and a former Dodgers and Angels team physician. “It all depends on how he heals and how he progresses through the rehabilitation for his elbow.

“If he has problems reestablishing his range of motion and his strength, or if there’s any complications with his ulnar nerve, which can become inflamed, there could be setbacks. But if he’s not going to throw and he’s just going to be a designated hitter, he could be back in about six months.”

The chance of a complete recovery from Tommy John surgery is estimated at 80%-90%. The rehabilitation process takes 12 to 18 months for a pitcher, six to 12 months for a position player and as little as six months for a DH like Ohtani.

The first three months of Tommy John rehab are devoted to healing, with a splint or brace protecting the ligament. Players begin range-of-motion, stretching and strengthening exercises in the fourth month, at which point position players can usually begin swinging a bat.

I’m not sure that applies to Ohtani because he’s a hitter and a pitcher.