It’s here.

Spring Training 2024 has officially begun.

Dodgers pitchers and catchers reported for Spring Training at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona on Friday morning (joining a good many position players who have been there for a while), and there was a lot of excitement in the air.

Perhaps the most excited of them all was Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman, who met with reporters following Friday’s first official workout.

Asked what his take was on his team’s first pitchers and catchers workout, the Dodgers executive summed it up succinctly.

“Just the stuff,” Friedman answered. “Group after group, from Ricky Vanasco and (Kevin) Gowdy, to obviously (Yoshinobu) Yamamoto and Walker (Buehler), and (Blake) Treinen, and Daniel Hudson. There were so many good things today.

“The first day is obviously exciting,” Friedman added. “The office walls were starting to crash in on you near the end of the off-season. So, to get outside again, be around the guys, is great.”

Of course, having staff ace and future Hall of Fame left-hander Clayton Kershaw in camp “is great,” too, which certainly added to Friedman’s excitement.

“We’ve said this a lot, it feels like everything is right in the world when Kershaw’s wearing Dodger Blue,” Friedman said with a smile. “From our standpoint, it was aggressive from the beginning to let him know how important it was to us, but to give him the space where he and Ellen to figure out what made the most sense for him and his family. And we were persistent but respectful, and all’s well that ends well.”

Well indeed.

Play Ball!

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