Why Aren’t There More Two-Way Players

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Photo by Erik Drost via Wikimedia Commons

Shohei Ohtani batting

Shohei Ohtani

Brewers fans got to see Angels phenom Shohei Ohtani for the first time at American Family Field over the weekend, but the full experience narrowly eluded them.

Ohtani played in all three games as a designated hitter, including an outing on Saturday when he collected three hits and stole two bases, and another on Sunday when he hit a home run. The Brewers just missed also getting to see him as a pitcher, however: His spot in the rotation came up against the A’s on Thursday, where he came a few feet away from becoming the first starting pitcher ever to hit for the cycle. 

It’s unlikely that Ohtani will still be with the Angels when they return to American Family Field in 2025: He’ll reach free agency, perhaps the most anticipated in the recent history of the sport, after this season. He’ll almost certainly be back in Milwaukee at some point, as baseball’s new schedule format ensures every team visits every other team at least once every two years, but it might be a while. Having one of the sport’s biggest stars be such a singular commodity for this long raises another question, however: How is it possible he’s still the highest level of the sport’s only two-way player?

When Ohtani came over to the U.S. six years ago there was widespread skepticism about his ability to succeed as a pitcher and a hitter, something that hadn’t been done in the American and National Leagues in any meaningful way in a century. More than half a decade later, however, Ohtani has demonstrated the ability to be an elite player in both roles simultaneously and, perhaps more surprisingly, stay healthy while doing it. Since the start of the 2021 season Ohtani is the most valuable player in baseball, and Baseball Reference estimates he’s already been worth more than two wins above replacement level in 2023.

Changing the Landscape

Ohtani’s emergence in America came nearly two decades after another Japanese phenom changed the baseball landscape. When Ichiro Suzuki signed with the Mariners before the 2001 season there were similar questions about how his incredible success in Japan would translate to the American game. Before his arrival in the US no Japan-born position player had ever appeared in more than 60 MLB games (and that player was Dave Roberts, the son of a US Marine serving overseas). Ichiro quickly erased doubts about his ability to make it stateside, however, winning a batting title, leading the sport in stolen bases and being named American League Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable player in his first season.

Ichiro’s immediate and incredible success opened the door for a generation of Japanese position players to come to the US. Within a decade after Ichiro’s debut Hideki Matsui won a World Series MVP with the Yankees, Kenji Johjima was catching for the Mariners and Kosuke Fukudome was an All Star in the outfield for the Cubs.

Ohtani’s success, however, has not paved the way for anyone else to this point. Even the best draft-eligible amateur players in the United States are still largely being forced to choose pitching or hitting, or having their teams choose for them. Three years ago Jim Callis of MLB.com ranked now-Reds pitcher Hunter Greene as one of the top two-way prospects in the history of the draft, citing him as a player that could have gone in the first round as a hitter or a pitcher. He batted 30 times in rookie ball after being drafted in 2017 and was a full-time pitcher the following spring. The Braves and Giants both took players with two-way potential in the first round of the 2022 draft, but Atlanta immediately made their pick, Chicago high schooler Owen Murphy, into a full-time pitcher and Giants first baseman/pitcher Reggie Crawford never took the mound during his pro debut season.

It’s unreasonable to expect another Shohei Ohtani. His incredible combination of skills create a unique player in the modern history of the sport. His incredible value and his ability to sustain that performance and workload, however, suggest that someone could be a significant asset to an MLB team with as little as half of his production. There are probably players out there who could do it, but to this point there haven’t been MLB teams willing to let them try.