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Posted on 03/30/2019 6:46:00 PM PDT by hardspunned
https://www.mlb.com/reds/video/lorenzen-on-playing-center-field
Don’t follow baseball like I used to but this is very unusual.
Only other position I recall was a pitcher playing first base.
Travis Wood, pitcher for the Cubs, played left field on occasion.
Clint Hartung was a pitcher and part time outfielder 1946-1950 for the NY Giants.
Guy is a specimen. Good chance he can pull it off.
Last year as a pinch hitter in 35 at bats .290 ave. 4 HR 10 RBI .710 SLG
The guy is a threat with the bat, good speed and average center field. He pinch ran Monday, stole second and played two innings in center. The crazy thing is he is warming up with the left fielder between innings so he can walk from center, take the ball and start pitching if needed. In fifty years of watching mlb I’ve never seen this.
I meant Thursday, opening day.
José Oquendo-The Secret Weapon during his playing time with the St. Louis...check him out. It was fun watching whitey ball back in the 80s
Reds. Kool
I don’t think so. Michael is from California, Jared is from Kentucky. Michael is built like Mr. America, Jared looks like he ate America.
LOL, I heard he ballooned up to 500 pounds, but is now trying to lose the weight.
I remember when he was at Kentucky, he was surprisingly quick despite his girth. He played for the Giants for awhile.
There was 19 year old kid who broke into the major leagues in 1914 as a pitcher for the Red Sox who turned out to be a pretty good hitter.
Works for me.
I expect this (baseball players playing both off the mound and on) will happen more often.
Lots of changes happening in MLB: shifting fielders, having starting pitchers only pitching the first inning, analytics used to position fielders and make line-ups. So far, I’ve liked most of it. I’ve been following baseball since 1961. Even though my team is pretty crappy this year (Tigers) I’m still paying attention. It’s cheap entertainment.
Shohei Ohtani pitches & plays 1B for the Angels. A power hitter & a power hitter & a power pitcher.
Tom Seaver, i think, wasn’t awful.
He had some .200 batting seasons and a few .300 OBP seasons.
Who was thee 19 year old?
Wait. Ruth!!! :)
What struck me about Lorenzen was the ability to do both in the same game or the same inning. The Reds also have an 18 year old phenom starter, Hunter Greene, in the minors with a 102mph fast ball and first round hitting ability. I don’t think they are looking at him as a two way guy though.
Yes, it seems it would open up some options. You wouldn't have to burn a pitcher to come in for one or two batters, or you wouldn't need to burn a pinch hitter if he was on the bench. In theory, he could come up to bat & then go out & pitch.
Pitcher Don Drysdale for Dodgers hit 29 home runs in his career and one year batted .331 with 7 home runs.
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