Angels skipper Joe Maddon provided an update on the injury situations of shortstop Andrelton Simmons and starter/DH Shohei Ohtani. Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times was among those to cover the chat (Twitter links).
In the case of Simmons, who is nursing an ankle injury, he’s not going to be activated as soon as eligible. Fortunately, it isn’t as serious as the one he suffered last year, but there’s still some healing left to be done.
Simmons is “still pretty sore,” Maddon explains, and will likely not be back in the “real immediate future.” Maddon continued: “From what I read today, it’s progressing but not as quickly as it could.”
Meanwhile, tantalizing talent Shohei Ohtani is expected to be back in lineup tomorrow. That’s a consoling development after the recent news that he’ll be sidelined from mound work for the foreseeable future after suffering a forearm injury.
Ohtani, who didn’t pitch last year due to Tommy John surgery, spoke to media members including MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger (Twitter link) this evening. The injury isn’t that severe, by Ohtani’s reckoning, which at least seems to indicate he’s not at risk of another procedure.
When asked about the possibility of ultimately focusing only on one side of the game, Ohtani said he’d rather keep trying to do both. At the same time, he indicated he’d be open to considering that possibility if the team made such a request. It seems unlikely at this point that the Halos would forgo a chance to see Ohtani reemerge on the mound.
