Angels' ace says that he hurt his elbow while facing the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani

Oct 27, 2024

This article is not going to claim that losing Shohei Ohtani solely caused an injury to the Angels' Opening Day starter...symbolically though, this reflects poorly on the Angels.

On June 21st, the Angels played the Dodgers. It was the first regular season matchup between the two rivals (they play their last Spring Training games against each other every year), so it was also the first time the Angels were playing against Ohtani. In a recent interview, Angels' ace, Patrick Sandoval, said, “Shohei comes up. I ripped a slider, one of the nastier ones I’ve thrown that year…I was like 'oh no.' I felt something in my elbow. That didn't feel right. So I catch the ball, and I'm like, 'I can't come out.' Like, I have him 0-2, I gotta strike him out... he takes me to 3-2, and every pitch I'm throwing hurts worse and worse… 3-2, we called fastball up...gripped it as hard as I could, threw it as hard as I could, and it came out like 88 or 89...worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life.”

Sandoval, being a competitor and personal friend with Ohtani, seemingly ignored pain while attempting to retire his former teammate. In the full interview, Sandoval said he felt great while playing catch that day. He had him 0-1, and threw a slider where he started to feel something that got him to 0-2. Instead of coming out of the game right away, he decided he wanted to strike out Ohtani before addressing the tightness in his elbow. The count got to 3-2 and Sandoval said, "every pitch hurt worse and worse." It was revealed later that Sandoval tore his UCL and had a bad flexor tear.

Would Sandoval have needed Tommy John surgery regardless of shrugging off elbow pain mid-at bat? Yes. He would have felt tightness regardless of who he threw his slider to, and that tightness was likely the UCL injury then and there. What he would have been avoided was "the worst pain" he ever felt if he signaled his discomfort earlier to his trainer. Also, saying that he pitched through tightness until he had a visceral reaction does not look great. Sandoval was out there trying to strike out the best player on the planet, but pitchers should remove themselves as soon as possible if they feel anything in their arm. Ripping fastballs and sliders as hard as he could post-elbow tweak could not have helped anything. Plus, he struck out Ohtani during the World Baseball Classic before the 2023 season anyway!

On the Angels front, it's yet another reminder that losing Ohtani set the franchise back...a long time. Sandoval hurting himself in pursuit of an Ohtani strikeout obviously would not have happened if Ohtani never left. It's quite emblematic that an attempt to get Ohtani out, only to walk him, caused a catastrophe for the team that let him walk.

Sandoval was one of the Angels' most reliable starting pitchers in 2023 and one of their best in 2022, both alongside Ohtani. Ohtani and Sandoval's fWAR were the top marks for the Angels in '22. Both will like make their returns from TJ at some point in 2025. Ohtani might have a World Series ring by that time too.

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