TEMPE, Ariz. -- Shohei Ohtani walked up the dugout steps at 10:30 a.m. local time Wednesday, paused to tip his cap to the wall of photographers in his path, then headed off to a back field at Los Angeles Angels' spring camp to begin the grandest of baseball adventures.
Before the day was through, Ohtani took batting practice in the rain, hung out with his former Nippon Professional Baseball manager and ascended a podium for his welcome-to-spring training media session in a packed hotel conference room on a butte overlooking Tempe Diablo Stadium.
As he strives to achieve his goal of playing two ways in the majors, Ohtani is taking things pitch-by-pitch and swing-by-swing rather than dwelling on the enormity of the task that awaits him.