One of the biggest free agents of the offseason was Japanese two-way star Shohei Ohtani, who was considering the Los Angeles Dodgers, among several other teams.
Ohtani ended up landing in Southern California, but with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in somewhat of a surprising decision. Being that they are in the American League, the Angels do hold the benefit of utilizing him as a designated hitter in addition to pitching.
So far the talk of the town this spring in Arizona has been Ohtani, as players, fans and scouts want to get an up-close look at potential the best prospect to ever come out of Japan.
Ohtani faced the Dodgers for the first time on Wednesday, which came against none other than Clayton Kershaw. He tossed three scoreless innings in the Dodgers 4-2 victory, facing Ohtani only once.
Kershaw got the better of Ohtani in the much-anticipated matchup, as he froze him on a breaking ball to strike Ohtani out looking.
After his outing, Kershaw downplayed any significance to facing Ohtani and wished him well, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“No, I could care less now. He didn’t pick us,” Kershaw said, “so, good luck to him.”
Kershaw has carried that type of mentality throughout the entirety of his 10-year career, choosing to focus on those inside his own clubhouse as opposed to players outside of it. It’s also plausible that he simply wishes to pay little attention to the matter because Kershaw sensed Ohtani, or his agent, wasted the Dodgers’ time during the free-agent meetings.
With the Dodgers and Angels meeting every year in the Freeway Series both before the start of the regular season and during the season, the Kershaw-Ohtani matchup should be something that fans can look forward to for many years to come.
