Two-way player

A two-way player is a term in sports used to describe a player who excels at both offense and defense.

Basketball

Commonly used in basketball, a two-way player is proficient at both the offensive side of the game and the defensive side of the game.

In the National Basketball Association (NBA), Kawhi Leonard, Chris Paul, John Wall, Jimmy Butler, and Kevin Durant are considered some of the best two-way players.[1]

Some of the best two-way players in the league have been awarded the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award.

Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Kevin Garnett are the only Defensive Player of the Year winners to have also won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) during their careers; Jordan and Olajuwon won both awards in the same season.

Hockey

In the National Hockey League (NHL), the term two-way forward is used for a forward who handles the defensive aspects of the game as well as the offensive aspects of the game. The best two-way forward is presented with the Frank J. Selke Trophy. The term two-way defenseman is used to describe a defenseman who also makes contributions on offense.[2]

Baseball

In Major League Baseball (MLB), there are few true two-way players, as position players generally do not pitch, and most pitchers are poor batters. In the American League especially, the two-way player has mostly ceased to exist, as the designated hitter (DH) rule allows a team to have a designated batter bat in place of the pitcher. In the National League, pitchers still have to bat for themselves, but they are usually poor batters. In 2017, the average batting average for all of MLB was .255. The average batting average for pitchers was .124, significantly worse than the league average.[3]

One example of a modern two-way player in MLB is Shohei Ohtani, who in 2018, became one of the few players to hit and pitch professionally. He has been used as a DH on days that he does not pitch.[4][5] Babe Ruth is the last player to pitch 100 innings and have 200 plate appearances as a batter in the same season. Two-way players are still common in college baseball, with the John Olerud Award being given to the best two-way player of the season. However, by the major league level, a player is usually better at either pitching or batting, and rarely is given the chance to do both.[6]

The term two-way player can also be used to describe a position player who plays good defense for his position.

American football

In the National Football League (NFL), there are few two-way players, as most offensive players do not play on defense and vice versa. A major concern is the possibility of injury when a player is "overused."

Patrick Ricard is an example of a two-way player in the NFL, playing both as a fullback and a defensive lineman in 2017.[7] In the early years of the NFL, two-way players were more common, as part of the one-platoon system, but it is now a rarity.[8]

At the college level, some players do play on both sides of the ball, especially the more "electric" athletes.[9] While he was at UCLA, linebacker Myles Jack also played at running back, and he was awarded both the Pac-12 Conference Offensive and Defensive Freshman Player of the Year.[10]

See also

  • All-rounder, a player who can bat and bowl in the sport of cricket

References

  1. ↑ Schuhmann, John (August 16, 2017). "Taking stock of best of best two-way players in NBA today". NBA.com. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
  2. ↑ Macfarlane, Steve (August 27, 2016). "Ranking the 10 Best 2-Way Defensemen in the NHL for 2016-17 Season". Bleacher Report. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
  3. ↑ "2017 MLB Team Position Performance by BA".
  4. ↑ DiGiovanna, Mike (February 14, 2018). "Angels' two-way player Ohtani will pitch and be a DH, but he won't be allowed to slide head-first". Los Angeles Time. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  5. ↑ Miller, Sam (April 3, 2018). "Should Shohei Ohtani stay a two-way player? Exactly 100 years ago, the Red Sox faced the same question with Babe Ruth". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
  6. ↑ Miller, Doug (December 6, 2017). "Ex-two-way prospects assess Ohtani's future". MLB.com. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  7. ↑ Hensley, Jamison (August 23, 2017). "Patrick Ricard looking to become NFL's sixth two-way player of the past decade". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
  8. ↑ Santorosa, Tony (March 8, 2012). "NFL's Best Two-Way Players of All Time". Bleacher Report. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
  9. ↑ Greenawalt, Tyler (Nov 17, 2015). "Two-way players make a resurgence in college football". NCAA.com. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  10. ↑ Foster, Chris (December 2, 2013). "UCLA's Myles Jack is chosen Pac-12 freshman of the year — twice over". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
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