Shohei Ohtani Homered In First Game Back Because Of Course He Did

Bad news for anyone who isn't a Los Angeles Dodgers fan - it appears Shohei Ohtani's surgically repaired shoulder is doing just fine after the Dodgers pitcher/designated hitter crushed a home run in his first at bat of his first spring training game on Friday.

In front of a packed Camelback Ranch Stadium crowd in Glendale, Arizona, the 30-year-old reigning National League MVP hit a first-inning home run off of his former team, the Los Angeles Angels, and their starting pitcher, Yusei Kikuchi. The Dodgers would end up going on to win 6-5.

That's great news for baseball and for Shohei's recovery, of course. But, bad for anyone facing the phenom at the plate or on the mound.

OHTANI UNDERWENT SHOULDER SURGERY AFTER INJURING IT DURING WORLD SERIES

This past winter, Ohtani had arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder after sliding head first into second base during Game 2 of last year's World Series against the New York Yankees. 

"Regardless of the results, I think the biggest takeaway was being able to go through my three at-bats without any issues," Ohtani said after Friday's game. "Physically, it felt really good."

The two-way player sat out from pitching all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Yet, where nearly every other MLB player would be delegated to sitting on the bench all season and eating sunflower seeds and trying to stay warm, Ohtani proved once again why he is who he is and ended up absolutely dominating, hitting .310 with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases. Ya know, just a casual season for someone whose elbow and forearm underwent significant surgery, just months prior.

"It's a constant feedback between how I feel and how the swing actually looks. So today, I was pretty good. I felt like it was pretty consistent with what I felt. So as I'm doing my rehab as well, I'm going to continue to do that," Ohtani told reporters after Friday's win.

As of now, the timetable for Ohtani to return to the mound is sometime in May.

But based on his homer Friday, something tells me the Dodgers won't be rushing him back anytime soon as long as he can continue being a DH.

WILL THE DODGERS REPEAT AS WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS THIS SEASON? TWEET ME YOUR THOUGHTS: @TheGunzShow