When two-way player Shohei Ohtani had his biggest batting game of the season hours after hearing he would need Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, his Los Angeles Angels teammates were not that surprised.
Ohtani learned on Sept. 5 that he would need the procedure to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, and the slugging left-handed hitter went 4-for-5 with a pair of towering home runs, a walk and a stolen base. It was just part of an offensive tour de force that earned the 24-year-old his second American League Player of the Week Award.
“It’s kind of surprising, but once you look at his character, it’s really not,” shortstop Andrelton Simmons said.
