Shohei Ohtani navigates a life in the spotlight on a daily basis as easily the most talented player in MLB history, but that at times brings unwanted attention and scrutiny.
Such became the case when Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell was asked about his team’s pitching injuries and strain it can put on a roster. According to Jay Cohen of the Associated Press, Counsell’s response centered around raising issue with MLB’s two-way player rule for Ohtani.
“It’s a rule to help offense, I think, more than anything, if you ask me,” Counsell said. “And then there’s one team that’s allowed to carry basically one of both, and that he gets special consideration. Which is probably the most bizarre rule. … For one team.”
Counsell went on to recognize how unique of a player Ohtani is, but that still came with further implying the Dodgers unfairly benefit from the rule.
“There’s not another player like that, but one team gets different rules for that player,” said Counsell, who played in the majors for 16 years.
Ironically, the Cubs were among the teams in pursuit of Ohtani during his free agency process. And though finding another Ohtani is all but impossible, there is nothing preventing the Cubs or any other team from pursuing their own development of a two-way player to leverage the roster benefit.
“The thing is it certainly benefits us because we have the player. But that’s something that regardless of any team that would have Ohtani, would have that. We’re more than willing to have other teams to go out and find a player that can do both. He’s an exception because he’s an exceptional player. So it is what it is.”
Current MLB roster rules limit teams to carrying a maximum of 13 active pitchers. It’s a policy that was formally implemented in June of the 2021 season. The league initially planned to impose a 13-pitcher limit for rosters during the 2020 season, but that was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All teams are permitted to carry a 14th pitcher on their active roster from Sept. 1 through the end of the regular season.
Understanding MLB’s Ohtani rule
Although not officially named after the Dodgers’ two-way superstar, MLB first put into place the proverbial ‘Shohei Ohtani rule’ at the start of the 2022 season. It allows teams to list a player as the pitcher and designated hitter/position player on the day he starts, then remove him in one role but not the other.
But in order to qualify under MLB’s two-way rule, players must meet both of the following benchmarks in either the current season or any of the two previous years:
• Pitched at least 20 Major League innings
• Started at least 20 Major League games as a position player or designated hitter, with at least three plate appearances in each of those games
Meanwhile, an amended designated hitter rule states if the DH is replaced, he can continue as the pitcher but can no longer hit for himself.
However, if the player is simultaneously replaced both as a starting pitcher and DH, he cannot be replaced by another two-way player filling both roles as separate people. Such can be done only once on the initial lineup card by identifying that the starting pitcher will bat for himself.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts lauded the rule change in 2022, when Ohtani was still a member of the Los Angeles Angels and one year away from becoming a free agent.
More recently, Roberts and Freddie Freeman pushed back against a new Ohtani rule being needed for intentional walks in response to debate that surfaced following the Toronto Blue Jays putting him on base four times during Game 3 of the World Series last year.
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