Baseball doesn’t have a very long track record of two-way players, but you may have heard of Babe Ruth’s ability to strike guys out and hit a home run or two back in the day.
I hate when an athlete's quote is cut short. Here's the #FullQuote from Babe Ruth on striking out: pic.twitter.com/mrZSNOxflj
— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) January 26, 2017
Pictured Above: Something not entirely relevant.
Or, in more modern times, you may be familiar with a Japanese player by the name of Shohei Otani, who is considered by some to be the next Babe Ruth (he was recently recognized as the best designated hitter and starting pitcher in his league).
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So clearly these players exist, it’s just that they’re few and far between.
But to that end, let’s take a quick peek forward at the 2017 MLB Draft. Right at the top of the board, there’s a 17-year-old high school senior by the name of Hunter Green. According to MLB Pipeline, Green is the projected first overall pick in the draft … and for good reason:
“Scouts agree Greene would be a solid prospect as a position player, one with tremendous raw power and the ability to stay on the dirt. But he’s a top prospect on the mound, one with the work ethic and makeup to excel once he focuses full-time on his craft.”
Yup. Green is the kind of talent who could be drafted as a two-way player, which would be relatively enormous news, if his new team allowed him to master his skills on both sides of the ball.
Or perhaps, they’ll just let him do his thing … because he seems to have the two-way thing down already.
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In his season debut this weekend (h/t Cut4), Greene allowed just two runs on three hits over five innings. He also struck out seven batters … oh, and he went 2-4 with a grand freakin’ slam:
In addition to the two-way dominance, scouts reported that Greene’s last pitch of the day clocked in at 97 MPH. It’ll be hard to pass on someone with his skill-set come June.