ANAHEIM – Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani will be limited to about 75 pitches and will not reach training when he returns to the mound against the Rangers on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium, manager Joe Maddon said Monday .
Ohtani is scheduled to make his second start to the season after facing a blister on his right middle finger in his lone start to the year against the White Sox on April 4th. He launched a light bull session on April 12 before launching more aggressive ones. Wednesday and Saturday without bandage on the finger.
But with the limited number of Lahtan launches on Tuesday, the Angels decided they would not use him as a hitter in the same starting game so they could use a designated hitter for the entire game. Ohtani hit second when he started on the mound against the White Sox, colliding with a home run in his first bat-to-bat, while leaving seven more than 4 innings of 2/3 and allowing a run won.
“It will be in that 75 mark, but you have to look and see with that bottle,” Maddon said. “It simply came to our notice then. It could be more, it could be less. It feels pretty good. With the uncertainty, I will not kill him tomorrow, in case something goes wrong soon and we should stir the rest of the night with a short bench. “
As for Wednesday’s game, Maddon said it’s too early to know if Ohtani will be in training the day after his start. But he was in training against the Rangers on Monday and will depend on him if he wants to serve as DH on Wednesday.
“We’ve talked about it and I’m waiting to find out what you think,” Maddon said. “He may want to wait until he starts to say something. And if so, that’s fine too. “
Ohtani qualified 0-4 in Monday’s 6-4 loss to the Rangers and said he was ready for his return to the mound, but that he won’t know how the blister will react until he throws at full intensity. He also said he expects to be part of the lineup again on Wednesday, but it is too early to know for sure.
“Right now there are no problems,” Ohtani said through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. “It could be a different story once we get to game time, but from now on there are no problems. My bottle was quite large and affected all four seams when I went against the seams. I used to get blisters on the inside of the seams. fingers of the separators. But this one wasn’t from the divider. ”
Rendon starts a light baseball activity
Third baseman Anthony Rendon has been out on April 10 with a tension in his left groin, but he pitched and made some fieldwork on Monday. Rendon is eligible to return from the injured list Wednesday, but looks set to need more time than that.
“It’s getting closer,” Maddon said. “At the moment I do not hear anything negative. Everything is progressing positively, which is good.
Maddon, however, said he does not have an official schedule for when Rendon could return, but the club hopes it will be soon. With Rendon out, Luis Rengifo started at third base on Friday and again on Monday.
“I don’t think it’s much further away, but I’ll wait until it gets its activities,” Maddon said. “It looked good, but I wasn’t really pushing it. Obviously, we have to meet with the training group, but I don’t think it’s too far ”.
Some angels
• The Angels did a light workout on Sunday after seeing their games against Minnesota postponed Saturday and Sunday due to COVID-19’s problems with the Twins. Right-hander Alex Cobb and left-hander José Quintana faced batters to try to stay sharp. Quintana was scheduled to start Saturday, but will now take the mound against the Rangers on Wednesday, while Cobb is scheduled to start the series opener against the Astros on Thursday in Houston.
• Right-footed player Dexter Fowler met Monday with Dr. Neal ElAttrache to schedule surgery to repair the broken ACL in his left knee. Fowler will undergo the season-ending operation on April 27th. He is expected to have a recovery time of six to nine months.