has been diagnosed with a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of his pitching elbow, general manager Perry Minasian told reporters ( ). He will not pitch again in 2023. It isnt clear if hell require surgery; writes that Ohtani is seeking a second opinion before making that decision. Ohtani started the first game of todays doubleheader against the Reds. He departed in the second inning with what the team initially announced as arm fatigue. Minasian told the Halos beat that he underwent imaging between games and learned of the ligament damage. He neverthele s played in the nightcap as the designated hitter, going 1-5. The extent of the injury isnt clear. A full tear of the UCL typically requires a complete Tommy John repair. Partial tears can sometimes be resolved by either a le s invasive internal brace procedure or by non-surgical rehab altogether. The Angels will surely provide more details on Ohtanis treatment options in the days and weeks to come. Even if he avoids going under the knife, its a seismic development for the markets top impending free agent. The two-way superstar has been trending towards shattering the MLB contract record. While that could well still be the case, teams will now have to carefully weigh his arm health in formulating offers. Rob Deer Jersey Ohtanis elbow delayed his emergence as a generational superstar at the MLB level. He was diagnosed with a UCL tear at the end of his debut campaign in 2018. He underwent Tommy John surgery in October of that season, limiting him solely to designated hitter work for the 19 season. Ohtani only pitched twice during the shortened 2020 schedule while battling major command woes. It wasnt until 2021 that he was able to pitch at a top-of-the-rotation level for a full season, securing his first MVP award in the proce s. Over the past three seasons, the three-time All-Star has been an ace-caliber hurler. He owns a 2.85 ERA in 427 innings going back to the start of 21. He finished fourth in Cy Young balloting a season ago when he posted a 2.33 ERA while striking out just under a third of opponents in 166 innings. His pitching performance had taken a slight step back this year, although he was still one of the best in the sport.In 22 starts entering play Wednesday, hed worked to a 3.17 ERA acro s 130 2/3 frames. Ohtani fanned an excellent 31.4% of batters faced but battled some inconsistency in his command, walking 10.3% of opponents. Thats of course only half the story. As was the case after his first UCL injury, hell be able to continue working as a designated hitter. He has been the best offensive player on the planet this year. Ohtani is hitting .304/.405/.664 through 556 plate appearances. He leads the majors with 44 homers, handily leads qualified batters in slugging and trails only and in on-base percentage. Even were Ohtani strictly a hitter, hed have a strong argument to win AL MVP. His pitching accomplishments make that honor a lock. Hell remain the clear #1 free agent in next winters cla s even if surgery winds up being nece sary. A DH-only version of Ohtani, if it comes to that, would still be far and away the best player on the open market. Yet theres no doubt the elbow injury makes him a tougher evaluation for clubs. Not only might there be a po sibility that Ohtani is unable to pitch for part of next season, teams will have to attempt to project how deep into his career hes capable of carrying a workload unprecedented in modern baseball. How the injury affects Ohtanis market value will become clearer a few months from now. In the short term, hell remain in the batting order as a DH. Even if his offensive performance is no worse for wear, thatll be a modest consolation for an organization that couldnt have drawn up a worse August. Since pushing in two of their top prospects for and at the trade deadline, the Halos have gone 9-18. Theyre a season-worst six games under .500 after being swept by the Reds. Their playoff hopes had all but evaporated even before tonights news both that Ohtani would no longer be able to pitch and that was to the injured list. It has been a staggeringly brutal few weeks even for a franchise no stranger to disappointment. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports. Christian Yelich Jersey