GLENDALE, Ariz. – The evidence is everywhere. This is not a normal spring at Camelback Ranch.
The parking lot outside the entrance to the Dodgers’ training complex has been lined with dozens of Japanese reporters as early as 6 a.m. each day this week, cameras pointed to capture any glimpse of the new guy in camp. Security has been tightened with even credentialed media being scrutinized at a level unfamiliar during the normally relaxed early days of spring training.
And the No. 17 jerseys – clean, white and fresh off the shelves – seem to be on the backs of every other fan walking the grounds at Camelback Ranch as the Dodgers’ pitchers and catchers went through their first workout of the spring on Friday.
“I’ve still got to pinch myself to see him in a Dodger uniform,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the object of all this attention, the team’s new $700 million man, Shohei Ohtani.
Even Ohtani himself can feel how things have changed with his move from the Angels to the Dodgers this winter.
“I’m on a brand new team so I’m going to act like I’m a rookie and try to get along with all the guys, and get along with my teammates,” Ohtani said through his interpreter.
“I like to go up and say hi, introduce myself. But there are so many new people that I have to make sure I don’t introduce myself twice. If I do, hopefully they’ll let it go.”
If the signs of Ohtani’s presence are evident at Camelback Ranch, the man himself will be largely out of view for now.
Last year’s elbow surgery means that Ohtani pitching in 2024 is “not on the table,” Roberts said. But the DH arrived in camp Monday and began hitting off a pitching machine at CBR, a significant step forward in his recovery that puts him on track to debut in the Dodgers’ lineup when they open the season in Korea March 20.
“My swing, effort level-wise, is almost 100 percent,” Ohtani said Friday. “My next step is facing live arms or facing some velo from…
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