Shohei Ohtani is an not possible expertise to copy. That’s, except it is image day.
The Angels’ picture day was Tuesday, as the total roster and employees have been in attendance with a purpose to say cheese and get their official image taken. Everybody besides Ohtani.
The 2-way star was notably absent from image day. Relatively than reschedule for one more day, the Angels went by with it and elected to make use of a physique double in Ohtani’s place for the picture.
It seems there was a stand in for Ohtani at picture day, who was escorted again off the sphere by the bullpen exit. pic.twitter.com/FP8z8FQqxn
— Sarah Valenzuela (@Sarah_IsabelVee) September 5, 2023
If you happen to take a better take a look at the physique double you will notice he doesn’t appear like Ohtani … in any respect.
There he’s, the best baseball participant ever, Shohei Ohtani pic.twitter.com/ImWCMZMoHo
— Razzball (@Razzball) September 6, 2023
The excellent news is that Ohtani will nonetheless be included within the image. Somebody within the artistic division ultimately will Photoshop Ohtani’s face over the physique double, because the physique is actually solely what’s wanted.
It is unclear why Ohtani missed out on image day. Neither the Angels nor Ohtani’s camp gave a particular motive for his absence. He did not arrive to the Angels clubhouse till after the picture was taken.
MORE: Newest information, updates on Shohei Ohtani’s elbow harm
The image day absence is simply one other bump in what has been a rocky couple of weeks for Ohtani, who is about to be a free agent after this season.
Shohei Ohtani harm replace
Ohtani was not simply absent for image day Tuesday. He additionally was scratched from the Los Angeles lineup as he continues to cope with his elbow harm.
In line with supervisor Phil Nevin, Ohtani wished to play within the second recreation of the sequence in opposition to the Orioles, nevertheless Nevin was “not gonna let him.” It was the second consecutive recreation that the Japanese star was not within the lineup.
“I simply felt like at the moment was not day for him,” Nevin said. “So we’ll see how he feels tomorrow. If he is available in and tells me ‘I really feel good’ and he passes all assessments, then I’ll have a call to make.”
Ohtani tore his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his proper elbow in August. In consequence, he has been shut down from pitching for the remainder of the season, however his bat will stay an choice within the lineup at DH.
MORE: Can Ohtani nonetheless hit with a torn UCL?
The following step for Ohtani and the Angels is deciding on what must be completed to restore the ligament. A second Tommy John surgical procedure for Ohtani is an choice, nevertheless The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported that there was one other operation that Ohtani may get that may be one thing of a hybrid surgical procedure, which might maintain Ohtani off of the mound for an prolonged time.
“I feel it is inevitable that there shall be some sort of process,” Ohtani’s agent, Naz Balelo, said on Monday. “What that process seems to be like, and when, and what sort of process, is what we’re gathering proper now. Clearly there’s been a number of opinions and we’re not simply banking on one or two, we’re actually attempting to coach ourselves on this state of affairs.”