Less than a week after the Los Angeles Dodgers agreed to terms with two-way free agent megastar Shohei Ohtani, the team held an introductory press conference for the newly acquired phenom Thursday at Dodger Stadium.
There were reportedly up to 300 media members from around the world on hand for the event.
Ohtani provided mostly standard introductory answers but did discuss the recent elbow surgery on his torn ulnar collateral ligament suffered on August 23 that will keep him off the pitcher’s mound in 2024.
Ohtani, who had Tommy John Surgery after his rookie season in 2018 with the Los Angeles Angels, wouldn’t say if he had a second Tommy John Surgery in the past couple of months or not, instead saying the procedure “was completely different” from his 2018 surgery, per The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya.
Shohei Ohtani wouldn’t confirm whether or not he had a second Tommy John surgery, but said his second elbow procedure “was completely different” from his Tommy John in 2018.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) December 14, 2023
It’s an interesting answer, to say the least. The recovery rate for pitchers who have two Tommy John Surgeries is drastically lower than that of pitchers who just have one. While Ohtani still provides tremendous value on an already great Dodgers team as just a hitter, you would have to imagine the record-breaking 10-year $700 million contract assumes he will also be able to pitch again at some point.
As of right now, it doesn’t seem like much of a concern as it was already clear Ohtani wouldn’t pitch in 2024 anyway.
