The Los Angeles Dodgers were following Shohei Ohtani's career long before he arrived in Major League Baseball with the Angels. In 2016, Andrew Friedman asked Adrián González to bring a care package to the Japanese baseball star.
The five-time All-Star first baseman saw action with five clubs at the big-league level and had a brief off-season pitstop with the Atlanta Braves organization late in his career.
The 2017 calendar year saw many breakout performances in sports. Whether we're talking newcomers, youngsters taking it to the next level or even veterans coming into their own, there was no shortage of new names becoming familiar for sports fans.