What is Shohei Ohtani's injury history? Looking back on two-way phenom's past medical struggles

Shohei Ohtani's UCL tear is the most disappointing injury news of the season. Not only is the two-way star done with pitching and thus can't continue the best season in baseball history, it also has a tremendous impact on the potential $500 million payday that he was headed for in free agency.

He may or may not need Tommy John surgery, which would be the second time in Shohei Ohtani's career. Besides that, he's had other various maladies. Here is his injury history.

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Examining Shohei Ohtani's injury history

The torn UCL which will cost Shohei Ohtani the rest of his pitching season is just the latest injury to pop up for the former Japanese standout. Dating back to his time in the Nippon Baseball League, he's had a few troubles.

What is Shohei Ohtani's injury history?

In 2013, he sprained his ankle and broke his cheekbone during that season. His next injury didn't occur until 2017, when he had to have surgery on a lingering ankle issue. That offseason and into his first season with the Los Angeles Angels was when his UCL issues first popped up and he got Tommy John in 2018.

Also in 2018, Ohtani had a blister that cost him a couple of starts. His Grade 2 UCL sprain happened just days after the blistering issues.

Per ESPN, then-GM Billy Eppler said:

"One of the things that Shohei does is he throws extremely hard. If you're going to throw hard for a number of years, and you're going to continue to stress ligaments, you're going to put yourself at risk. If you're going to be a phenom, like Shohei is, and play both ways ... and you're going to hit huge home runs, and throw 100 miles an hour, it's a lot for your body to endure."

After that, his injury issues largely went away until this year when he had blistering issues and has now torn his UCL once more.