Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani (17) is greeted by teammates Mookie Betts (50) and Freddie Freeman (5) after hitting a home run.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani (17) is greeted by teammates Mookie Betts (50) and Freddie Freeman (5) after hitting a home run.
On the first day of spring training, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts began drawing a lofty parallel.
Barry Bonds, Roberts said, “was the most talented player I’ve ever played with.”
Shohei Ohtani, he then predicted, “probably has a chance to be the most talented player to ever play the game of baseball.”
During a trip to San Francisco last week, Roberts witnessed the comparison in real life.
Back in the ballpark Bonds once called home, a stadium where Roberts has seen hundreds of games as a player and manager, the Dodgers’ skipper turned his gaze skyward after a thunderous Ohtani swing. His slugger had just clubbed a home run 446 feet with a blistering 113.4-mph exit velocity.
Jack Harris covers the Dodgers for the Los Angeles Times. Before that, he covered the Angels, the Kings and almost everything else the L.A. sports scene had to offer. A Phoenix native, he originally interned at The Times before joining the staff in 2019.
