GLENDALE, Ariz. — Different players have told me on different occasions that only pitchers and catchers need a good four weeks-plus of spring training. Hitters don’t need nearly as much time to prepare for a season — maybe a week or two, as a general rule, if they’re in shape.

There are exceptions to the rule. Alex Guerrero is one.

Guerrero only played 12 games in the Dominican Winter League because of a nagging hamstring injury. That’s simply not enough games to expect the 27-year-old to transform into the Dodgers’ Opening Day second baseman after playing shortstop his entire career. Even Superman doesn’t change capes that fast.

Guerrero will take the field today as the Dodgers’ starting second baseman against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the first Cactus League game for both clubs. (Most other clubs begin playing games no sooner than Friday, since most clubs don’t start the season in the Southern Hemisphere.) Second base is the only Opening Day position remotely up for grabs — unless you count the starting pitcher — so it will be a primary focus on the field, starting today.

In an intrasquad game Sunday, Guerrero flawlessly charged a ground ball, picked it up on the run, and threw across his body to retire the runner at first base. He looked like a second baseman. If Guerrero looks that smooth in today’s game, it will be in large part because of the four lonely weeks he spent fielding ground balls at Camelback Ranch before pitchers and catchers reported to spring training.

“I’ve practiced enough that it comes naturally to me,” Guerrero said through an interpreter. “Training’s always going to be different than the game, but I feel comfortable.”

The Dodgers have 19 days’ worth of games — 21 in all — before leaving for Australia. Guerrero said it will be “very important” for him to see game action over the next three weeks at second base. But it’s not as if he’s picking up where he left off Dec. 12, his final Dominican Winter League game.

After receiving his United States work visa and entering the country on Jan. 13, Guerrero came to Camelback Ranch and got to work.

“I feel so much more comfortable at second now … than I did in the Dominican,” he said. “I feel like it’s natural to me now.”

Some bullet points for a National Pistachio Day:
• Here’s how viewers were introduced to SportsNet LA last night, narrated by Vin Scully.

• Lifelong Dodger fan Larry King is getting his own show on the network. “Larry King At Bat” will feature the talk show icon taking live BP against Clayton Kershaw interviewing “celebrities, baseball legends, Dodger personalities and other luminaries” in a series of hour-long episodes. The first episode debuts March 18 at 7 p.m. Orel Hershiser is the guest.

• From Bloomberg.com: “With the large numbers involved, it’s possible Time Warner Cable could add 100,000 subscribers, boosting its enterprise value by $500 million.”

• DodgersDigest.com broke down the tape of Dee Gordon’s home-plate collision with Miguel Montero in March 2013. Monday, Gordon said he suffered a serious ankle injury on the play and didn’t recover until midseason.

• Adrian Gonzalez announced he’ll host his third annual one-day Citi Adrian Gonzalez Baseball ProCamp from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on June 16 at Calabasas High School. Gonzalez will host a skills clinic and a meet-and-greet. The cost is $99 and the camp is open to boys and girls from Grades 1-8.

• Chase Headley thinks he’ll be ready to play the Dodgers on the San Diego Padres’ Opening Day.

• Hee-Seop Choi is the 122nd-best paid baseball player in Korea.

• Ron Negray closed the first game in Los Angeles Dodgers history. Today he turns 83.

• Games are here. So is Willie Hutch’s “Brother’s Gonna Work It Out”: