5 things we learned from Ohtani's introduction

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LOS ANGELES -- Has the record-breaking Shohei Ohtani signing sunk in for you yet? Because it hasn’t for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

“I'm still in the ‘pinch me’ phase, to be quite honest,” Roberts said following Ohtani’s introductory press conference on Thursday at Dodger Stadium. “... [I] can't believe we're going to have an opportunity to have him wear a Dodger uniform. One of the most talented players to ever put on a baseball uniform is now a Dodger, as far as we can see out.”

Here are five things we learned from Thursday’s events:

1. Ohtani made his decision the night before his announcement
Things came right down to the wire for the two-way phenom, who was still choosing between teams as of last Friday. As the baseball world pondered whether he was on a plane en route to Toronto, Ohtani was actually at home in Southern California, where he ultimately made his decision. And on Saturday morning, president of operations Andrew Friedman got the call that Ohtani had picked the Dodgers. Shortly thereafter, Ohtani broke his own news via an Instagram post.

“All throughout, [agent Nez Balelo] had talked about how that was important to Shohei, to announce it in that way,” Friedman said. “It's part of what contributed to the emotional rollercoaster of Friday, because people who said the Dodgers are out, we knew that wasn't true because we knew we would never know we were out, and that it would happen on Instagram.”

2. Ohtani expects to be ready as a hitter for Opening Day
Although Ohtani is almost certainly not pitching in 2024 following offseason elbow surgery, he shared on Thursday that he’s “on a really good pace” to be ready for Opening Day as a hitter, and that he’s spent the past week taking dry swings.

“As long as I can get into Spring Training as scheduled and be able to play in the exhibition games, I think I'll be fully ready as a hitter for Opening Day,” Ohtani said through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.

3. The Dodgers have a (good) lineup problem to solve
We know that the combination of Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman atop the Dodgers’ lineup is likely to give pitchers fits next season. What less clear is how Ohtani and Freeman will stack up behind Betts in the leadoff spot -- something Freeman himself was curious about.

“The other day, we were all in the training room with the players, and Freddie and Shohei [were] over there with some other guys, and Freddie dropped the bomb on me and said, ‘Who's hitting second, who's hitting third?’” Roberts said. “So I think we're just gonna all get together [to discuss it], but those are two great options.”

4. Ohtani has taken notice of Dodger fans
Despite playing just down the freeway with the Angels for the past six years, Ohtani still feels he has plenty to learn about what makes the Dodgers' fan base special and unique, and he said he’s looking forward to doing so. But he observed how much Dodger blue there was at Angel Stadium during Freeway Series games in Anaheim.

“That says, I feel, that they're very, very passionate fans,” Ohtani said.

5. Ohtani’s adorable dog is named Dekopin -- but you can call him Decoy
We finally got the answer to a question that’s been plaguing us for the past month. It turns out it wasn’t something baseball related at all, but rather, it’s Dekopin -- and Ohtani wasn’t being secretive, he just figured it would be a difficult name for American fans to pronounce.

“He was originally named Decoy, so I kind of took that and made it Dekopin, [which] sounded more Japanese,” Ohtani said of the name’s origin.

It’s a fitting handle for the Nederlandse Kooikerhondje, a Dutch breed originally used for duck hunting.