Free agent Michael Lorenzen has primarily been a pitcher in his profession however has sometimes dabbled in hitting and taking part in the outfield. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic stories that Lorenzen and his agent, Ryan Hamill of CAA, are pitching him as a two-way participant for the upcoming season. Nonetheless, the concept isn’t actually to promote Lorenzen as a viable hitter, however to get across the roster guidelines that restrict what number of pitchers a workforce can have.
Main League Baseball instituted a rule in June of 2022 limiting golf equipment to 13 pitchers on a 26-man roster. When rosters develop to twenty-eight in September, the pitcher restrict goes as much as 14. As a part of these guidelines, every participant is designated as a pitcher or a hitter or a two-way participant. Within the case of a two-way participant, they don’t rely towards that pitcher restrict. As an example, the Angels had been in a position to carry Shohei Ohtani and 13 different pitchers on their roster throughout his time with that membership, giving them one further arm in comparison with all different groups. The Dodgers will be capable to do the identical in 2025 and past, after Ohtani didn’t pitch this 12 months whereas recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure.
To qualify for two-way standing, a participant must have met sure standards. They should have pitched a minimum of 20 innings and have performed 20 video games as a place participant or designated hitter, getting a minimum of three plate appearances in these video games, in both the present season or the earlier one. The standing permits the membership to get across the roster limitations, in addition to the foundations on when a place participant can pitch.
The plan from Lorenzen and his agent, as laid out by Rosenthal, is to let Lorenzen get the required plate appearances this 12 months with a purpose to qualify for two-way standing. As soon as he has that standing, it will be in place for the rest of 2025 and in 2026 as properly.
It’s a inventive plan which might theoretically improve Lorenzen’s worth. At the present time, pitcher utilization has been shrinking, with starters getting pulled earlier and relievers taking over bigger workloads. Having one further arm will surely enchantment to a membership, so it’s comprehensible with Lorenzen and his reps would give it a strive.
The problem can be in implementation. Lorenzen wasn’t an particularly good hitter even when he was doing it commonly. With the Reds from 2015 to 2019, he received between 5 and 53 plate appearances annually, attending to 145 in whole over these 5 seasons. He hit seven dwelling runs however solely walked at a 4.8% fee and struck out 31.7% of the time. His .235/.279/.432 line led to an 84 wRC+, which isn’t too unhealthy for a pitcher however nonetheless subpar. It’s additionally largely buoyed by a four-homer burst in 34 plate appearances in 2018. He stepped to the plate 53 instances in 2019 however went deep simply as soon as and slashed .208/.283/.313 for a wRC+ of 53.
Even attending to one thing in that neighborhood might be a tall ask. Lorenzen received precisely one plate look in each 2020 and 2021, adopted by none in any respect up to now three seasons, so we’re speaking a couple of man who primarily hasn’t hit in any respect in 5 years and is popping 33 years previous in January.
However the way in which the plan is printed, that doesn’t appear to matter. The concept is for a rebuilding membership such because the White Sox or Marlins to run Lorenzen on the market, realizing full properly he isn’t prone to hit a lot, however presumably not caring since they’re not likely attempting to win anyway. As soon as he has unlocked two-way participant standing, he could be traded to a contender that may profit from having one other pitcher on the roster.
It’s maybe value noting that this plan might theoretically be achieved with any pitcher, although a theoretical hurler won’t be eager on the concept. A random free agent pitcher won’t need to embarrass himself by stepping up the plate in these 20 video games, and there’s additionally the danger of struggling an harm on a stray pitch hitting a hand or some form of pressure whereas working the bases or sliding right into a bag. Lorenzen a minimum of has the potential to be considerably satisfactory within the field and it’s attainable he welcomes the problem of getting again in there.
Lorenzen has been utilized extra as a pitcher as a result of his outcomes have been higher on the mound, and he would have worth even simply as a regular hurler. He has a 3.99 earned run common in 854 1/3 innings at this level, working as a starter, reliever or swingman over his profession. He has signed one-year offers in every of the previous three offseasons, simply based mostly on his talents on the mound. He received $6.8MM from the Angels going into 2022, $8.5MM from the Tigers going into 2023 and $4.5MM from the Rangers final offseason. He simply posted a 3.31 ERA this 12 months between the Rangers and Royals and would presumably be capable to get one other strong one-year pact within the coming weeks or months.
The hope from Lorenzen and his reps appears to be that this galaxy mind concept might maybe get him a bit extra money or perhaps a second 12 months on his subsequent deal. It’s unclear whether or not any membership would have the urge for food for such a charade, nevertheless. Within the age of expanded playoffs and the draft lottery, only a few golf equipment are going into the 2025 season with no hope of contending. Even golf equipment which were unhealthy in latest seasons just like the Angels and Athletics have been aggressively including to their rosters this winter.
The White Sox simply had a record-setting season of futility and are absolutely going to be unhealthy once more in 2025, however deliberately tanking a lineup spot to achieve some theoretical marginal increase in commerce worth may be a bit too egregious for a membership that most likely has some want for a much less embarrassing season subsequent 12 months. It’d additionally take some at-bats from youthful gamers the workforce want to develop.
Rosenthal scoffs on the concept of the White Sox or Marlins having younger gamers that they need to give large league at-bats to, however that’s oddly dismissive. Absolutely the Fish must weigh a plan like this towards attempting out varied gamers they hope can develop into viable main leaguers, comparable to Kyle Stowers, Griffin Conine, Deyvison De Los Santos and so forth. Even when they really feel they’ve DH at-bats to make use of, they might go the extra conventional route of simply signing a free agent hitter comparable to Jesse Winker or Tommy Pham with the concept of buying and selling that participant on the deadline.
Time will inform if any membership will chew, however one has to tip their cap to Lorenzen and his reps for considering exterior the field.
