Shohei Ohtani’s agent, Nez Balelo, painted the picture of an optimistic recovery for his client Monday afternoon at Angel Stadium.
“Everything’s good,” “He’s going to be fine,” he had said.
About 90 minutes later, Ohtani — who had taken batting practice for just the fourth time this season — was scratched from the Angels’ starting lineup against the Baltimore Orioles because of right oblique tightness, the Angels announced.
Ohtani has not spoken to the media since before he tore his ulnar collateral ligament against the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 9.
“As you know, he is very particular about things and he is going to continue to just play out as long as we possibly can and until we make decisions, but there’s really no need for him to address the media, Balelo said. “I’m addressing this for him, and on behalf of all of us… but we’re just going to let him continue to play and do what he loves to do and respect that.”
Balelo had answered a number of questions ranging from whether Ohtani will need surgery to their relationship with the team before Ohtani’s latest game-interrupting ailment.
“Shohei is in a good place,” Balelo said. “His spirits are high. He’s playing. Everything’s good. So I don’t want anybody to think that he’s not.”
Although Balelo thinks it is “inevitable” Ohtani will have some kind of procedure done, he said that they were still in the process of determining their options. He said they do not have a timeline on when a procedure might happen and he declined to discuss specifics on what kind of procedure they might pursue.
“Clearly, there’s been multiple opinions and we’re not just banking on one or two,” Balelo said. “We’re really trying to educate ourselves in this situation.”
