Shohei Ohtani’s second Major League Baseball season is over after the Los Angeles Angels announced on Thursday the Japanese star slugger would have surgery on his left knee.
“Shohei Ohtani will undergo surgery (Friday) in Los Angeles to address a bipartite patella in his left knee,” Angels executive Billy Eppler said in a statement. “A general timetable for this procedure is 8-12 weeks for full recovery.
“We will update with more information following the procedure.”
A bipartite patella is a condition where the kneecap is composed of two separate bones that have failed to fuse together as usually occurs in childhood.
The Angels gave no indication why it was decided to address the issue now.
Ohtani, 25, finished the season with a .286 batting average and 18 home runs in 106 games as a designated hitter for the Angels.
In June he became the first Japanese born player in MLB to hit for the cycle – recording a single, a double, a triple and a home run in the same game.
The two-way star was sidelined until early May as he recovered from Tommy John elbow surgery in his pitching elbow on October.
His pitching rehab progressed throughout the year, but Ohtani hasn’t pitched in a major league game in more than a year, and the Angels have not yet indicated if they will use him on the mound in 2020.
Ohtani was selected as the American League rookie of the year in 2018. He went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA in 10 starts as a pitcher, and he batted 285, hammered 22 homers and hit 61 RBIs.
Meanwhile the Pittsburgh Pirates have slapped right-handed pitcher Kyle Crick and teammate Felipe Vazquez with undisclosed fines as a result of an altercation in the clubhouse.
Crick appeared to get the worst of it as he underwent surgery on his right index finger on Tuesday which will end his season. The team expects him to be back for next season’s training camp.
“The behaviour exhibited by these two players last night is unacceptable, inconsistent with the standards expected of a Major League player and will not be tolerated by the organisation,” general manager Neal Huntington said in a statement.
The altercation took place before Monday’s Major League Baseball game against the San Francisco Giants.
No details were released on the amount of the fines.
Crick has a 4.96 ERA in 52 appearances this season. He last pitched on Sunday.
Vazquez was not in the Pirates’ lineup Tuesday against the Giants.