Showtime is back as Shohei Ohtani will pitch Sunday vs. Houston

When the LA Angels said that Shohei Ohtani would most likely pitch again this season despite having UCL damage in his right elbow.  But believe it now Shohei Ohtani has been announced as the starter for Sunday’s game in Houston vs. the Astros.

Despite the LA Angels being out the of the pennant race they will be getting two/fifths of their Opening Day starting rotation back within the next week.  The Angels announced today that Shohei Ohtani will get the ball on Sunday in Houston against the Astros.  This will be the first game Ohtani will pitch since June 6th when went four innings against the Kansas City Royals allowing only one run on four hits before being pulled from the game after 63 pitches.

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Ohtani is 4-1 with a 3.10 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 49.1 innings of work.  The Angels are in dire need of starting pitching with Tyler Skaggs, Nick Tropeano, Garrett Richards, J.C. Ramirez, and Matt Shoemaker still on the DL.  Shoemaker had a successful rehab assignment in Inland Empire Wednesday evening pitching for the 66’ers, the Angels Single-A affiliate.

There is still a chance that Nick Tropeano and Tyler Skaggs could pitch again this season, but there is no timetable for their return as they have not yet begun to throw from a mound in their rehab.  Shoemaker is on schedule to return to the Angels rotation some time early next if all goes well in the next few days.

It is not yet known if the Angels will go back to the Shohei Sunday approach only letting Ohtani pitch once a week for the rest of the season.  You would think this would be the case as you don’t want to risk him getting reinujured. If this is the case he will have the opportunity to pitch two more times at Angel Stadium.  However this is not set in stone yet so don’t go and get your tickets yet.

The news that Ohtani will return to the mound gives Angel fans something to look forward to in the final month of the season.  Hopefully all will go well in his return.