Superstar pitcher and batter Shohei Ohtani will miss his next scheduled Major League Baseball start for the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday due to arm fatigue, manager Phil Nevin said Sunday.
The 29-year-old Japanese two-way threat, the first regular top batter and pitcher since Babe Ruth more than a century ago, will remain in the batting lineup as designated hitter for the Angels.
But Nevin said Ohtani asked to skip a turn in the pitching rotation this coming week to rest his right arm.
“Shohei asked to skip one start with what he said is some arm fatigue,” Nevin said. “There’s no pain or injury. Just some arm fatigue, so he’s going to miss one start and get right back to where he was in his normal spot.”
That will push back Ohtani’s next outing on the mound to a start at home against the Cincinnati Reds on August 21 or 22.
Ohtani was the 2021 American League Most Valuable Player and is a strong contender to take the award again this year.
He’s 10-5 with a 3.17 earned-run average and 165 strikeouts in 130 2/3 innings over 22 starts this season as a pitcher.
Ohtani is hitting .305 and leading the AL with 40 home runs and 83 runs batted in over 116 games. He has 20 doubles, seven triples and 16 stolen bases.
As a pitcher, Ohtani has not allowed an earned run in 19 innings over his past three starts. He departed an August 3 start against Seattle after four scoreless innings with a cramping right middle finger but threw six innings with only an unearned run surrendered last Wednesday over San Francisco.
Ohtani threw a career-high 166 innings over 28 starts last year with a 2.33 ERA and 219 strikeouts.
Ohtani won’t miss time as designated hitter, with a scheduled off day coming on Thursday.
At 58-60, the Angels are 6.5 games behind Toronto for the last wildcard playoff spot in the AL.
Ohtani was seen as a trade target at the transfer deadline but the Angels announced they were keeping him into the final months of his contract in hopes of making a run at a playoff berth.
The Angels have not reached the MLB playoffs since 2014 and haven’t won a playoff series since 2009.
