GLENDALE, Ariz. — It was a sparse mid-week crowd at Camelback Ranch on Tuesday – boosted by an eight-member contingent from the Freeman family – but they did their best to welcome Freddie Freeman to the Dodgers.

His first at-bat in a Dodger blue uniform prompted a “Fred-die! Fred-die!” chant. When he carved out an opposite-field single on a 1-and-2 pitch, one fan was moved by the moment to shout out last week’s headline, “Freddie Freeman is a Dodger,” prompting a round of cheers.

“It was exciting, it was,” Freeman said after grounding into a forceout in his second at-bat and handling four innings at first base. “It’s a new chapter and the fans chanting my name was very nice. Usually, Dodger fans aren’t chanting my name over the last 12 years. So that was nice. It was a good day.”

Before the game, Freeman posed for photos with his family – “everybody from an aunt to two 1-year-olds (his twin sons) down here today,” he said.

“It was a big day for our family,” said Freeman, an Orange County native who starred at El Modena High. “Everyone that was in town was able to be here today and support me. That was nice.

“Believe me, I’ve got more coming this week. Easy drive now to get to spring training.”

With Opening Day just more than two weeks away, Freeman hopes to be a busy man in the days ahead, saying he was “quick on heaters, spinning off balls” just like the start of most springs.

“I like to play,” he said of his usual spring approach to getting ready for the season. “I’m a big playing-of-the-game guy, so we’ll see. I’m not sure if I’m playing tomorrow. Bob (Geren, bench coach) kind of went over it with me a little bit. I only got two weeks, so I got to get in there.

“I’ve been getting as much work as I can on the back fields, but nothing’s like a game. So it was nice to get a couple of ABs.”

ARBITRATION AVOIDANCE

The Dodgers will not go to salary arbitration with any of their eligible players, reaching one-year contract agreements with shortstop Trea Turner, pitcher Julio Urias and pitcher Caleb Ferguson on the deadline day to exchange salary figures Tuesday.

Turner will make $21 million for the 2022 season, his final before becoming eligible for free agency next fall.

Urias will get a raise from $3.6 million to $8 million after being MLB’s only 20-game winner last season.

And Ferguson agreed to a $762,500 deal as he returns from Tommy John surgery this spring.

Center fielder Cody Bellinger agreed to a one-year, $17 million deal just before the lockout began.

PILLAR SIGNING

The Dodgers signed outfielder Kevin Pillar to a minor-league contract with a non-roster invitation to big-league camp on Tuesday. Pillar is one of 27 non-roster invitees in camp.

For the 33-year-old Pillar, it’s a chance to play for the team he grew up rooting for and take “Kind of a personal journey for me to really see how good of a baseball player I can become and see if these guys can help me and try to expand my career as long as possible.”

Pillar, who starred at Chaminade High in West Hills and Cal State Dominguez Hills, is a .260 career hitter with a .705 OPS and spent last season with the New York Mets. Like many veterans, though, he found a weak market as a free agent this offseason.

“I felt like it was in my best interest for the longevity of my career to maybe take a step back, to take a couple of steps forward,” Pillar said of signing a minor-league deal with the Dodgers. “This organization has done a really, really good job of taking players that maybe have underperformed or underachieved, or maybe some guys that were fairly unknown and turned them into some really good baseball players. For me, I want to leave no stone unturned. I still believe that I can be a much better baseball player than I am right now. And this is probably the best place for me to try to figure that out.

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“It’s a humbling thing to have played on Opening Day for the last seven years. Then you wake up one morning coming into camp with an uncertain future of Opening Day. Obviously a very, very talented roster and no obvious path for me to make that happen right now. But I’m betting on myself. I’m betting on myself to be able to play this game at a high level for a couple more years. Even if that means I got to take a step back this year.”

Pillar, originally drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2011, admitted that his signing with the Dodgers also makes things a lot easier for his family.

“It was a very difficult time for them when I played with the Giants,” he joked.

HEALTH CARES

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said outfielder Mookie Betts felt ill Monday night and only participated in a light workout Tuesday. Betts was scheduled to see his first game action of the spring on Wednesday, but that might be pushed off until Thursday now.

Meanwhile, catcher Austin Barnes went through testing for a concussion after taking a foul tip off the face mask in Monday’s game. He was cleared to participate in workouts, but Roberts said Barnes won’t play in another game before Thursday.