Ohtani feels like he’s a rookie again with Dodgers
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Roughly 70 media members formed a half-circle around a small backdrop at the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ facility late Friday morning, waiting for Shohei Ohtani to conduct his first media session. About a dozen of them had shown up hours earlier, before the sun had fully risen, just to catch a glimpse of him driving into the players’ parking lot.
Ohtani’s gravitas has been glaringly obvious through the first two days of spring training, but he’s merely trying to conduct himself as the new guy. After six years with the crosstown rival Los Angeles Angels, he sees himself as a “rookie” all over again.
“I like to go up and say hi, introduce myself,” Ohtani said through his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. “But there are so many people that I have to make sure I don’t introduce myself twice. If I do, hopefully they’ll let it go.”
Ohtani said he’s close to swinging at full intensity and will soon begin hitting velocity, a sign that he remains on track to be the Dodgers’ designated hitter when the team opens its season in South Korea on March 20. He dismissed concerns about the complexities of preparing himself as a hitter while rehabbing elbow surgery as a pitcher, noting he previously went through that process leading up to the 2022 season. He believes it will be “easier the second time around.”
The dedication and discipline that allowed Ohtani to thrive as a two-way player from 2021 to 2023 is already standing out. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has noticed how “intentional” and “regimented” Ohtani is with his work, adding that “every minute on the clock matters,” leaving precious few of them for small talk. Other players, Roberts said, have made it a point to observe him.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody more meticulous with their work, with every rep,” said Dodgers infielder Chris Taylor, among the small group of players who gathered at Dodger Stadium for workouts leading up to the start of spring training, alongside Ohtani, Gavin Lux and Walker Buehler, among others.
“Obviously we knew his work ethic was top shelf,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, “but to see how deliberate everything he does is — our training staff has commented that they’ve never seen a guy returning from surgery that is so intentional about every single thing they do, from every swing he takes. Most guys get in the cage and they just kind of mindlessly swing. He does his whole pre-pitch routine before every swing. Just how intentional every single thing he does, whether it’s in the weight room, the cage, out on the field, that you can’t really fully appreciate until you see.”
Ohtani was diagnosed with a Grade 2 sprain of his ulnar collateral ligament in his right (pitching) elbow three months into his major league career in 2018 and didn’t emerge as a full-time two-way player until the start of his fourth season. From 2021 to 2023, Ohtani won two MVPs unanimously — he would’ve had a third if not for Aaron Judge‘s record-breaking home run season in 2022 — and accumulated 26.5 FanGraphs wins above replacement, far more than anybody else.
On Friday, Roberts confirmed what has long been obvious — that Ohtani, who underwent a hybrid version of a second Tommy John surgery in September, isn’t an option to pitch at any point in 2024. He believes having him as a Dodger will nonetheless “raise the bar” for the whole team, even though Ohtani is only fulfilling half his duties.
“There’s just a great sense of humility and kindness,” Roberts said of Ohtani, “but there’s that lion in there. You see it. And that, for me — that’s the perfect combo.”
Roberts told a DodgerFest crowd this past Saturday about his plan to bat Mookie Betts leadoff, Freddie Freeman second and Ohtani third when the games begin to count, but he cautioned Friday that he was just throwing that alignment out as an “exercise” to gauge fan sentiment. He wants to have a conversation with all three of them before solidifying the first three spots.
Ohtani significantly improved as a hitter from 2022 to 2023, his OPS jumping from .875 to a major league-leading 1.066. There was a thought within the Angels that juggling a two-way role actually helped him offensively, largely because he didn’t have time to dwell on negative outcomes. But perhaps focusing exclusively as a DH again — while residing in a superior lineup, and with far more experience than when he last took on that role exclusively in 2019 — will elevate his offensive game even further.
“I feel like there’s not just one level but several levels ahead offense-wise,” Ohtani said. “It’s just going to depend on what kind of lineup I’m in and everything. But at the end, my focus is going to be the same — keep the focus on my hitting and trying to get better.”
Bobby Petrino has fired three defensive assistants just one day after being named interim head coach at Arkansas as part of an overhaul of the Razorbacks’ coaching staff.
Petrino dismissed defensive coordinator Travis Williams, defensive line coach Deke Adams and defensive assistant Marcus Woodson in the latest moves after being appointed interim coach for the rest of the season to replace Sam Pittman, who was fired Sunday following five-plus seasons as Arkansas’ head coach.
“I just felt like how we performed on Saturday gave me an indication that maybe Sam had lost the team a little bit because they generally had played really hard for him throughout his tenure,” Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said of the move, which came on the heels of a 56-13 home loss to Notre Dame.
Petrino, 64, returned to Arkansas in 2023 as offensive coordinator after serving in a number of jobs. In four years as the Razorbacks’ head coach, he went 34-17, including consecutive seasons with double-digit victories in 2010 and 2011.
“Coach Petrino, as we met yesterday, he accepted this opportunity with the understanding that he also wanted an opportunity to formally be a candidate for our head coaching position, and he will have that opportunity, but we’ll also subsequently run a search for our next head coach at the same time,” Yurachek said.
Pittman’s dismissal, Petrino’s temporary promotion and the defensive assistant dismissals weren’t the only changes. Chris Wilson was named the team’s interim defensive coordinator.
Petrino had high praise for Wilson, who was in his first year with the Razorbacks as an assistant defensive line coach.
“My experience [with Wilson] goes way back to having to battle against him when he had all the great defensive linemen at Mississippi State,” Petrino said. “Very, very impressed with what he’s done throughout his career. Guy’s got a Super Bowl ring. He brings a lot of credibility into the room.”
Several defensive players posted cryptic messages on social media following the firing of Williams, who had served as the team’s defensive coordinator since 2023. Yurachek and Petrino encouraged players to welcome change amid a 2-3 start to the season.
“The No. 1 thing is, you have to get used to change. You know, your whole life there’s going to be change. So how we handle that, our attitude on how we handle that, will determine how quickly we improve,” Petrino said.
Petrino was involved in a single-vehicle motorcycle crash in April 2012 that left him with four broken ribs. At first, he said he was riding alone, but a police report revealed a woman was riding with him. The woman turned out to be a former Arkansas athlete who was in a romantic relationship with the married Petrino. The coach had given her a job in the football program and a $20,000 gift.
Petrino was fired by then-athletic director Jeff Long for misleading his bosses about what happened with the accident and his relationship with the football staffer.
Pittman, 63, went 32-34 with the Razorbacks.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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