Ohtani felt soreness while playing catch Wednesday, so the Angels scratched him from his scheduled start Friday. They aren’t sure if he will pitch again this season.
CHICAGO — Shohei Ohtani might have thrown his last pitch of the 2021 season. The Angels on Thursday scratched Ohtani from the start he was “penciled” in to make Friday because he felt some soreness playing catch Wednesday. Manager Joe Maddon said Ohtani is just feeling “soreness, from a long year. That would be my guess. There’s been no plans for him to see any kind of a doctor.” Maddon said he nonetheless brought up the subject of shutting Ohtani down as a pitcher for the final two weeks of the season, but they aren’t ready to make that call just yet. “That’ll be something that we’ll talk about as he starts to feel better,” Maddon said. “And then we’ll take it from there. I think he’s got nine wins. And on a personal level, he probably is thinking about 10. Ten always looks better than nine. But we can’t let that be the driving factor. “So we’ll just wait and see how he feels. Today’s Thursday. So I don’t even know the next day he’s scheduled to play catch. I’ll ask (pitching coach Matt Wise), but if it’s just like, he feels great, adamantly ‘I feel great,’ I see nothing wrong with (him pitching again). “But if there’s any kind of lingering soreness, you may see him not pitch. I just don’t know that answer yet.” Wise said he was “not terribly concerned” about Ohtani’s health, and that fatigue is to be expected, considering all he’s done. “No one else is doing what he’s doing physically, hitting and pitching, all that stuff,” Wise said.
