LOS ANGELES – A complete of 29 present Dodgers gamers had been readily available for DodgersFest on Saturday afternoon, a celebration of the crew in entrance of greater than 35,000 followers at Dodger Stadium. It is a crew with different former MVPs and established stars, however by far the largest roar from the gang, probably the most palpable buzz was created for Shohei Ohtani, the brand new man on the town.
“It's my first time standing in entrance of all of the Dodger followers in my Dodgers jersey,” Ohtani mentioned Saturday, by way of interpreter Ippei Mizuhara. “It's an ideal feeling and I can't wait.”
The wait received't final for much longer, with Dodgers pitchers and catchers reporting to Camelback Ranch in Arizona on Thursday, with the primary exercise on Friday. The primary coaching of the complete crew is on the 14th of February, when the love pageant is renewed in full.
Ohtani had elbow surgical procedure in September, which is able to maintain him off the mound by way of the 2024 season. He'll nonetheless hit, which is fairly important contemplating Ohtani led the majors in slugging proportion (.654), OPS (1.066 ) and wRC+ (184) final season, and led the American League in residence runs (44) and complete bases. (325) regardless of taking part in simply three video games in September.
After his Tommy John surgical procedure in October 2018, Ohtani stopped hitting solely in 2019 for the Angels, however didn’t play in any respect till Might 7 of that season. This yr, Ohtani says he's on monitor to be able to play when the Dodgers open their season in Seoul, South Korea on March 20 in opposition to the Padres, repeating what he mentioned throughout his press convention introductory on December 14.
Ohtani mentioned he rocked a jersey at Dodger Stadium, and plans to start out hitting cages as soon as he experiences to spring coaching in Arizona.
“If I'm very assured that I'm proper on schedule — not early or late,” Ohtani mentioned Saturday. “So long as there are not any clashes forward, I ought to be prepared.”
Ohtani, who received the AL MVP in 2021 and 2023, will land a spot within the high third of the Dodgers' lineup, together with 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts and 2020 Nationwide League MVP Freddie Freeman. Betts and Freeman completed second and third, respectively, in NL MVP voting final yr, and had been every within the high 5 in 2022.
Over the previous 4 seasons, Ohtani, Betts and Freeman every have three high 5 MVPs.
“It's drawback to have, the place you don't know the place you're going to hit folks,” Freeman mentioned Saturday. “I don't suppose it issues the place any of us are going to hit, so long as we rating extra runs on the finish of the sport.”
In what order Betts, Freeman, and Ohtani will hit isn’t but set in stone.
“I don't know that the highest three on opening day shall be seamless all season lengthy,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned Saturday. “Is it may it occurs, however I need Mookie and Freddie and Shohei to be a part of the dialog.
