LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani , rehabbing from elbow surgery as a pitcher while also preparing as a hitter, said he is “very confident” he’ll be ready to serve as the Los Angeles Dodgers ‘ designated hitter when they open their season in South Korea on March 20.
His manager, Dave Roberts, knows where he’ll hit, too.
Roberts sat on a makeshift stage atop the center-field grass at Dodger Stadium on Saturday and revealed the first three spots of his star-studded lineup to those who attended the team’s Fan Fest event, announcing that Mookie Betts would lead off, Freddie Freeman would bat second and Ohtani would hit third. It triggered a loud roar from a crowd of about 35,000 people, many of whom sported new Ohtani jerseys and T-shirts to commemorate the Dodgers’ $700 million acquisition.
“The Dodgers, Los Angeles, is going to be the epicenter of sports and baseball,” Roberts said, alluding to an offseason in which his team allocated about $1.2 billion on Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow , Teoscar Hernandez and James Paxton on the heels of a 100-win season.