Slightly Better than Replacement Level
In the 1890s two-way play was just a thing that happened. That’s not to say that it was extremely commonplace, but if you could swing a bat and throw a baseball you could play both ways if you so desired. That’s how baseball ended up with players like Cy Seymour. If they played great or […]
Wilbur Good came up as a pitcher, but he quickly started seeing time in the field, and within a few years was exclusively an outfielder. There aren’t many statistics available for Good’s time spent as a pitcher, so it’s unclear exactly why he gave up throwing the rock so quickly. Still, he did, and within […]
Sam Rice never played enough on both sides of the ball to qualify as a two-way player during his Major League Baseball career. He only had two seasons where he pitched, and he never made more than 5 appearances on the mound. He did have two seasons in the minors where he qualified as a […]
If not for a 1922 demotion to the A-level New Haven ball club (As a reminder, I don’t use racist team names on this site so if you want to know the actual name you will need to look it up yourself) Johnny Cooney may never have spread his two-way wings. Though he spent his […]
Too often we like to think of baseball as a linear game. This is especially true when it comes to prospects and younger players. They must progress at very specific rates and hit distinct checkpoints or something is amiss. We certainly don’t allow much wiggle room for prospects who struggle over a number of years […]