TEMPE, Ariz. — When Jared Walsh reported to spring training as a two-way player in 2019, he felt pretty confident about his chances of playing first base and pitching out of the bullpen in the big leagues.
Then Walsh witnessed Shohei Ohtani’s historic 2021 season, when the two-way phenom hit 46 homers with 100 RBIs and was 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA in 23 starts on the mound, and he realized the folly of his two-way aspirations.
“Oh yeah, absolutely!” Walsh said, when asked if he thought he could be a two-way player before Ohtani’s breakout season. “I was like, ‘This is gonna be no problem.’ Then I saw him, and I was like, ‘Ah, I don’t want to do that much work,’ so I’m not doing it.”