Ohtani to start season as 2-way player
Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani has recovered from Tommy John surgery and will be deployed as a two-way player at the start of summer camp, general manager Billy Eppler told Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com.
Ohtani was progressing during the original spring training to the point that the Angels expected him to return to the mound for regular-season games by mid-May.
Angels manager Joe Maddon said last week that the team plans for Ohtani to pitch once a week as part of a six-man rotation, according to Bollinger.
Ohtani will lead a rotation that will likely include Dylan Bundy, Julio Teheran, Patrick Sandoval, Andrew Heaney, and Griffin Canning. The latter was expected to miss the early portion of the regular season with an elbow injury before it was delayed.
Ohtani underwent Tommy John following his 2018 rookie campaign, during which he went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA and 1.16 WHIP over 10 starts while batting .285/.361/.564 with 22 home runs in 367 plate appearances. The surgery relegated him to DH duties in 2019, when he hit .286 with 18 homers in 106 games.
Training camps are set to resume on July 1 with the regular season scheduled to begin on July 23 or 24.