PHOENIX — The fans lined up in the early morning Saturday, rushed through the gates the moment they opened, and then camped out to secure the best seats possible for the most heralded bullpen session of the spring.
Shohei Ohtani was back on the mound, throwing his first bullpen session in spring training since 2023, surrounded by more than 1,000 fans and virtually the entire Los Angeles Dodgers’ front office.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts concedes he has never seen anything like it in his baseball career, not for a mere spring training bullpen session.
“There’s a lot of things since we signed Shohei Ohtani that I haven’t seen around a baseball field,’’ Roberts said. “He just handles it better than I could ever imagine any player handling it.’’
Ohtani thew 14 pitches, all two-seam and four-seam fastballs, hitting 92-94 mph on the radar gun. Ohtani was thrilled, hugged catcher Will Smith afterwards, and fans started cheering.
Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.
“I thought it was great,’’ Roberts said. “Just kind of seeing his delivery, which was really good, the clean arm stroke. … Gosh, the velocity, the ball was coming out really good. I think he seems pretty pleased with it, and the command was really good. So really positive.’’
Ohtani, who hasn’t pitched in a game since Aug. 23, 2023 and undergoing elbow surgery a few weeks later, still isn’t expected to pitch again in a major-league game until May. He won’t appear in any Cactus League games as a pitcher, but is projected to face live hitters in batting practice before the Dodgers depart for Japan on March 11 to play the Chicago Cubs in a two-game series.
Ohtani was curious himself during first bullpen session of the spring, frequently asking questions to pitching coach Mark Prior and the surrounding coaches after virtually every pitch.
“He was looking early on velocity, and then he was looking for his two-seamer, the depth and movement of the two-seamer,’’ Roberts said. “So just to kind of line it with what he feels. But it’s interesting that he’s very good at knowing what his stuff does, and so a lot of his thoughts line up with what the metric says.
“So out here, first day is great.’’
Certainly now, Roberts says, he can start to envision what it’s going to be like having Ohtani pitch in the rotation while being his everyday DH. Ohtani will have occasional days off. He won’t run nearly as much as he did a year ago when he stole a career-high 59 bases. But the imagination of what it will be like having a two-way player is endless.
“I’ve seen him throw a handful of bullpens,’’ Roberts said, “but to see him here in spring training alongside other pitchers, to see him just as a pitcher in that particular moment, was a reality check for me. It was kind of different seeing him in this context, and seeing other pitchers watch him and dab him up after his pen, was good to see.’’
But even though he’s on path now to pitching again in the big leagues, dominating on the game at the plate and on the mound, his demeanor really hasn’t changed.
“No, not at all,’’ Roberts said. “The thing with Shohei as I’ve learned is that he’s obviously very routine-driven. He’s very methodical is how he goes about his work. It’s thought-out days in advance, and each day, he just kind of gets to the next marker on what he has to do, and then he goes to the next thing.
“When he’s preparing for his pen, his only focus was how to best prepare himself. He executes pitches, and after that, he’s going to now do his recovery. What I’ve seen doesn’t affect his demeanor. …
“We feel good because he’s done it, and he’s had success doing it.’’
It’s really the same mantra Roberts wants his entire team to take as they defend their World Series championship, trying to become the first National League team to win back-to-back World Series since the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds.
Roberts spoke to the team before their first full-squad workout, stressing the need to keep their focus through October while playing with a $380 million target on their back.
‘There’s an understanding of what we’ve done, who we are, knowing that people are going to come after us with their best each and every night ….’’ Roberts said. “There’s a standard of how we prepare, how we play, getting guys to lock in for 8 ½ more months of baseball and stressing the mental part of it, the grind, how we do things, vs. outside expectations.’’
When you have the highest payroll in baseball, the biggest and brightest stars in baseball, and the most fans in baseball, the expectations are enormous.
Never has “World Series or bust’’ been more appropriate for these 2025 Dodgers.
Roberts wants his team to simply focus on themselves, stay the course, and if they do that, they should be back playing in deep October.
“There’s a real connection, a trust within our organization,’’ Roberts said, “that I think guys are really trying to stay the course with that. I think us being hunted or having a bullseye, when you put on this uniform, that’s just the way it is. …
“I do think that we’re the epicenter of baseball. I do think that we do a lot of things. We have a lot of talented players. Our fans come out in droves. Our players understand that. There’s a standard to uphold.’’
Roberts never used the word “dynasty’’ when speaking to his team, but he did remind them they have a chance to make history, going where no National League team has gone in a half-century, and no team since the Yankees have gone in a quarter-century.
“It’s a motivator,’’ Roberts said. “It’s an opportunity, it’s a motivator, but outside of that, I don’t see anything outside of that.
“There’s a lot of guys in that room that haven’t won a championship, and so ’24 means nothing to them. I really welcome that infusion of guys that are talented, that are hungry, and that want some hardware.
“That’s good for the entire organization.’’
Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale
