PHOENIX – Shohei Ohtani’s first swing of the day was a painful one. As he cut on an offering from Blake Treinen on Monday afternoon, he immediately let out a yelp in pain, fouling the pitch off his foot and taking a brief lap. Moments later, baseball’s most notable man returned to the batter’s box. He’d gotten his first live swing out of the way.

Minutes later, with his third swing of his live batting practice session of the spring, he issued a reminder of why the Los Angeles Dodgers shelled out so much for him, connecting on a J.P. Feyereisen fastball and rocketing the pitch well clear of the center-field fence, capping off the swing by watching the ball fly, left leg in the air as he leaned forward and heard the reaction from the players, front office personnel, coaches and assembled fans who turned a mundane spring training activity into must-watch action.

Monday marked the first time Ohtani had faced live pitching of any form in 169 days. And with as quickly as Ohtani has moved with his progression this spring after offseason elbow surgery, the $700 million man’s next action in a regular season game – and his first in a Dodgers uniform – could very well be on Opening Day at the Gocheok Skydome in Seoul on March 20.

“That seems like it’s gonna be the goal,” his agent, Nez Balelo, told The Athletic on Monday. Ohtani himself was not made available to reporters to discuss his progress, which appears to be trending in the right direction.

“He’s a lot further along than any of us not named Shohei would have expected,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said last week.

The Dodgers’ offseason has rendered several would-be camp battles as side stories, with much of the focus centering on the club’s billion-dollar Japanese pairing of Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The latter’s first live batting practice on Saturday was the talk of camp, drawing a crowd that included several front office personnel, each of which wanted to get an up close and personal look at the arm given the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history. Ohtani’s batting practice sessions have been closely monitored not just by the hordes of Japanese media but by the organization as well, as several with the club have been enamored by seeing Ohtani’s talents up close.

They’ve raved about his work, and how the two-way superstar has zoomed past expectations in his return from his second major elbow surgery.

“Our training staff commented that they’ve never seen a guy returning from surgery that is so intentional about every single thing they do,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “From every swing he takes. Most guys kind of get in the cage and they just mindlessly swing. He does his whole pre-pitch routine between every pitch. Just how intentional every single thing he does is, whether it’s in the weight room, out on the field, that you can’t really fully appreciate until you see it.”

That made Monday appointment viewing, by spring training standards. Former Los Angeles Angels manager Phil Nevin, whose son Kyle is in the Dodgers organization, visited camp to watch and chatted up his former two-way star in the dugout before and after the session. Friedman stood alongside Balelo and watched as Ohtani stepped into the box.

They didn’t know for sure whether Ohtani would actually swing. The Dodgers have given their shiny new star latitude as he works his way back from surgery, something Roberts said he’s extended to stars like Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman in years past.

“He’s healthy,” Roberts said. “We’re just giving him the opportunity that, if he wants to be out there and take live batting practice, great. And if he chooses not to and just works in the cage, that’s fine too.”

That has led to something of a delayed arrival to this moment. The club’s workout schedule has twice listed Ohtani as being among those slated to face live pitching, but Ohtani opted for regular batting practice on Friday and only stretched on Sunday before retreating to the club’s new indoor hitting facility.

The schedule itself provides Ohtani something of an option, something that he routinely has discussed with the Dodgers’ hitting staff as he works to get ready to enter potential Cactus League action (he won’t be in the lineup when games start Thursday).

“There’s a lot of respect between both sides,” Balelo said. “They kind of knew his routine (with the Angels) coming into it…and he also respects he’s got to abide by how they run their team as well. He’s doing his own thing, but monitored and within the guidelines of the organization. So I think we’re going to stick to that plan. Why wouldn’t we?”

Monday, however, wasn’t a drill.

He stepped in against Dodgers reliever Ryan Braiser to start his afternoon, yet only “tracked” – watching all five pitches go by before retreating back behind the netting.

He swung at the first pitch he saw from Treinen, fouling that pitch off his foot and then swung through the fifth pitch he saw from him to strike out.

But once Feyereisen delivered his full-count fastball, Ohtani connected.

“I think it was right down the middle, honestly,” Feyereisen said, laughing to the crowd of 30 or so reporters who surrounded his locker. “That’s why it went so far.”

Afterwards, Evan Phillips approached Feyereisen with a quip: he should go retrieve the ball from beyond the center field fence and get his $700 million teammate to sign it.

Ohtani’s transition to the Dodgers has been a relatively seamless one, with Balelo noting the transition in locale for spring training playing a part – playing in Florida, where one of Ohtani’s finalists (the Blue Jays) play spring training, “would’ve been different,” Balelo said.

“The familiarity with Arizona helps…If we would’ve done the Florida thing, I think it would’ve been completely different,” he said.

Clearing this bar on the hitting front is a milestone for the Dodgers in 2024, just as any progress Ohtani makes on the pitching front will impact the club in 2025. Ohtani said at DodgerFest he hopes to start a throwing progression at some point while the club is in Arizona for spring training, though Balelo pushed back on any hard deadlines to start that phase of his progression.

“He’s going to listen to his body,” Balelo said. “A lot of it has to do with the doctor (Neal ElAttrache) and the (physical therapist) and their recommendation. And we have plenty of time. Time is on our side in this one, especially if he’s not going to toe it up all year. Why rush that?”

Ohtani has remained engaged with some of the club’s pitching staff, including standing in on second-year right-hander Emmet Sheehan’s bullpen session and watching from behind as Yamamoto threw one of his own last week. The two have “a good relationship,” Balelo said, with the agent being quick to dispel some of the running theories about Japanese superstars not wanting to be teammates and adding that Ohtani was “thrilled” about Yamamoto’s arrival.

There remains a chance, if not a likelihood, that both will be on the field once the Dodgers open their season in 30 days.

Required reading

(Photo: Robert Gauthier / Getty Images)