Having way too much fun with two-way players

[Qeltar]

Probably more fun than is realistic, but hey, it's a game, I keep reminding myself.

So I was fascinated by Ohtani like most baseball fans. And I love flexibility and finding "gems." So in the recent amateur draft, once I was in the middle rounds when all the really good guys are gone anyway, I drafted a number of players with both hitting and pitching skills. In some cases these guys "flew under the radar" because they were listed as pitchers but were better hitters or vice-versa. The very best of these I actually didn't get. He was taken by an AI team. So they've done a pretty good job of making the AI look at both sides of a player.

My draftee of course are all kids and nearly all in the low minors so it will be years until I get to use them, but I check their stats regularly. The AI tends to mostly use them in their primary (batting or pitching) which is of course fine. I figure I'll have options depending on what advances. I'm not really sure how the development engine handles these guys, but we'll see.

Moving along, I have a 1B that was a total reclamation project. A 27 year old castaway, a 0.5 star reject I got on a MiLB contract off the free agent list. He proceeded to surprise me, ripping the cover off the ball in single A to the tune of 355/467/1322, winning two player of the week awards in the Southern League, despite his 40 contact rating.

I promoted him to AAA and in an admittedly small sample size he did even better there, with 4 home runs and 4 walks in 22 PAs. So what the heck, promoted him to the majors. My Marlins are playing over their heads and have a real playoff shot, but the goal here is still rebuilding and learning (them and me).

Anyway, this guy is a "1.5-way player." Part of why I nabbed him is that while he doesn't have good enough pitching stats to be a real pitcher, he can still toss an inning here and there.

Started his first game at 1B, blam, first AB is a home run. But my starter stunk the joint out and needed to be pulled, and I needed some innings eaten. No problem, I PH for the pitcher with another 1B and then put this guy on the mound. He pitches 2 scoreless innings -- just what the doctor ordered.

I'm sure Martin Prado, with his 16.71 ERA, is happy about this too. He's been my mopup guy in extreme blowouts to this point. (Hey, if you're going to make $13.5 mil as a pinch hitter, you might as well be useful in other ways.)

One possible issue -- I don't see any way to tell a player in the lineup to warm in the bullpen. Maybe that's just not implemented yet. Maybe it's against MLB rules. I didn't have any way to check if he was warm when he went in or not.

My first real two-way guy, though, is Michael Lorenzen, whom I recently traded for after discovering him in a gem hunt. He's not the best RP in the world but he's not bad at all. More than that though, he can hit. Like, his hitting stats are quite respectable, just below league average. On a GOOD hitting team he'd be subpar but on my crappy team his hitting stats are better than most of my bench players. Once I get some defensive ratings for him he'll be my ultimate utility guy, able to play infield, outfield, pinch hit and pitch. He even has above average speed. He went 3 for 5 in his first game.

I am sure most of the two-way guys I drafted will end up being just one or the other, and many will flame out. I am not expecting any Ohtanis. And in fact some of these guys I shouldn't have drafted because a guy who is both a "meh" batter and a "meh" hitter is much less valuable than a guy who is "good" at one and "bad" at the other.

But I can see Lorenzen hanging around for a while. He's fun.. and useful. He only had 12 PAs for Cincy last year, so I am sure there are real world reasons why this isn't really done except in extreme cases like Ohtani. But for now, he'll help my cruddy team be a little less cruddy. Well, once he stops booting everything sent anywhere near 2B.

PS I wish scouts would report for both halves of the equation for two-ways. Maybe a future update?