TWO-WAY OR NO WAY?

Could Ohtani emergence open door for 2-way college players?

Louisville coach Dan McDonnell is going to bat for two-way college baseball players. Here’s his pitch: With the hubbub over Japanese two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani, he said, the time has come for collegians excelling as pitchers and hitters to get more opportunities to do both as professionals.

“I don’t know why we have to watch Japan do it and say, ‘Hey, it works over in Japan, so let’s do it here,’” McDonnell said. “It’s been working in college baseball forever.”

Former major leaguers such as Dave Winfield, Todd Helton and Mark Kotsay were great pitchers and hitters as collegians, but had to give up dual roles to be position players as pros. McDonnell argues any of them, and others, could have been stars as two-way players in the big leagues — if only they had been given the chance.

McDonnell’s opinion comes from his vantage point as the college coach of Brendan McKay, the No. 4 overall draft pick last year

who’s being developed as a two-way prospect by the Tampa Bay Rays. The lefthanded pitcher and leftyhitting first baseman won three straight John Olerud Awards as the nation’s top two-way player and was the consensus 2017 national player of the year.

“The more success Ohtani has, the better for Brendan,” McDonnell said. “I’ll give Brendan his own due credit. What he did three years in college baseball, he earned the right himself.”

McKay said the plan is for him to remain a twoway player as long as he shows the ability to pitch and hit at each stop on the way up the pro ranks.

FILE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS At left, in an file photo, Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani throws against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning of a baseball game, in Anaheim.

TIMOTHY D. EASLEY — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE In a file photo, Louisville’s Brendan McKay bats during the team’s NCAA college baseball tournament super regional game against Kentucky, in Louisville, Ky.