TOKYO -- When Luis Cruz first saw Shohei Ohtani -- then a 19-year-old in his second professional season in Japan -- the former remembers thinking, "Oh my God, this guy's going to be good."
That said, Cruz had no idea at the time that Ohtani -- whom he thought would have to choose between hitting and pitching one day -- would become a Major League star unlike any other.
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"Good," Cruz said, "but not this good. Like, unbelievably good."
After several matchups in Nippon Professional Baseball between 2014-17, Ohtani and Cruz are now teammates, in a sense. Ohtani's second year with the Dodgers is also Cruz's first in the radio booth with KTNQ, as an analyst on the team's Spanish-language broadcast.
This spring, Cruz resurfaced an Instagram post he made on Aug. 19, 2015. The day before, Cruz's Chiba Lotte Marines had been blanked, 6-0, by Ohtani's Nippon-Ham Fighters. Ohtani, who was on the mound, struck out 12 across a complete game.
"The best pitcher I've faced here in Japan and better than many in the U.S.A.," Cruz wrote in Spanish. He concluded the post with: "#bigleaguer soon."
Cruz was speaking from experience. He had played five Major League seasons before going over to Japan, including 2012 and part of '13 for the Dodgers, so he knew firsthand what it took to make it in the big leagues.
The baseball world was aware of the burgeoning two-way superstar at the time, but Cruz was ahead of the curve.
Two years after the breakout 2012 campaign that made him a fan favorite in Los Angeles, Cruz got his first look at Ohtani in a preseason game in Okinawa. It was the first of many meetings between the two, as the Marines and Fighters were both in NPB's Pacific League -- and with time, Cruz and Ohtani built a rapport as opponents.
Cruz liked to keep things light during games, and would talk to and joke around with just about anyone on the diamond. He would usually get a laugh in response from Ohtani, but not much more, because of how serious he was while on the mound.
One game, Cruz had some fun with Ohtani by challenging him to throw a fastball down the middle.
"Chotto kowai," Cruz said. "Are you scared?"
Ohtani then threw Cruz a fastball -- one that registered 99-100 mph, as Cruz recalls. After unleashing the heat, Ohtani said, "Cruz-san, Cruz-san. … Today, you have no chance."
Cruz remembers going 0-fer with a couple of strikeouts that day. No chance, indeed.
That type of banter followed the two of them to their present-day roles with the Dodgers. When Cruz was at Camelback Ranch during KTNQ's spring broadcast slate, he and Ohtani talked often, discussing common friends and shared memories from playing in Japan.
Every now and then, they had to settle a score -- such as when they debated the number of doubles Cruz hit off Ohtani in Japan.
"He's like, 'You only hit one,'" Cruz said. "I'm like, 'No, I hit three, and I remember. You probably don't remember.'
"Maybe he kept track of how many strikeouts he got [against] me, but I had to keep track of how many hits I got. Especially [against] him. He was the big name."
If Ohtani was big then, he's a giant of the baseball world now. He won the AL Rookie of the Year Award when he broke into the Majors with the Angels in 2018, and he's starred both at the plate and on the mound, picking up three unanimous MVP Awards. Last season, serving strictly as a DH while recovering from right elbow surgery, he created the 50-50 club and became a World Series champion in his first year with the Dodgers.
With the Dodgers in Japan to take on the Cubs in the season-opening Tokyo Series, it's apparent how large Ohtani looms as a figure in global pop culture, not just as a ballplayer.
The magnitude of Ohtani's stardom today is something that Cruz could never have expected. He saw a Major Leaguer in Ohtani early on, not just because of his raw tools. The real standout quality was the way Ohtani carried himself and went about his work as a young player.
Either way, Cruz realized back then that he was witnessing something special.
"I always told my teammates we are watching history," Cruz said, "because this kid's going to be good, and he's going to be good in the big leagues."