{"id":672271,"date":"2026-04-10T07:01:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T07:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/672271\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T07:01:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T07:01:33","slug":"blue-jays-turn-23-year-old-into-2-way-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/672271\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays Turn 23-Year-Old Into 2-Way Player"},"content":{"rendered":"

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n

\"AA unique two-way talent emerges in the Blue Jays’ minor league system, blending the distinct skills of hitting and pitching into a single player.Dunedin Today<\/p>\n

The Toronto Blue Jays are experimenting with turning 23-year-old minor league outfielder Austin Smith into a two-way player who can both hit and pitch. Smith, a 10th round draft pick in 2025 out of the University of San Diego, had success as a two-way player in college and the Blue Jays are now giving him a chance to do the same in their farm system.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

Having a true two-way player at the MLB level is extremely rare, with Shohei Ohtani being one of the only recent examples. If Smith can prove he can hit and pitch at a high level, it could give the Blue Jays a unique weapon and something for fans to get excited about in their minor league system.<\/p>\n

The details<\/p>\n

Smith made his professional pitching debut on Thursday for the Blue Jays’ Single-A affiliate in Dunedin, Florida. Prior to this, he had been playing solely as an outfielder, hitting .261 with a .779 OPS. In college, Smith was a finalist for the John Olerud Award, given to the best two-way player in Division I baseball, after batting .305 with 20 home runs and posting a 4.12 ERA in 53 pitching appearances.<\/p>\n

Smith was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 10th round of the 2025 MLB Draft.Smith made his professional pitching debut on Thursday, April 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

The players<\/p>\n

Austin Smith<\/p>\n

A 23-year-old minor league outfielder in the Toronto Blue Jays organization who is being converted into a two-way player, able to both hit and pitch.<\/p>\n

Shohei Ohtani<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the only recent examples of a true two-way player at the MLB level, playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/p>\n

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\n What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n

\u201cI take what I can do as something special and I’m super excited to go out and do it today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Austin Smith, Blue Jays Minor Leaguer<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays will continue to monitor Smith’s progress as he attempts to develop into a two-way player, with the ultimate goal of potentially bringing that unique skillset to the major league level.<\/p>\n

The takeaway<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays’ experiment with Austin Smith represents a fascinating attempt to uncover a true two-way talent in the mold of Shohei Ohtani. If Smith can prove he can hit and pitch at a high level, it could give Toronto a valuable weapon and something for their fans to get excited about in the years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a A unique two-way talent emerges in the Blue Jays’ minor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2378],"tags":[5,377,2554,4,282,70,2553],"class_list":{"0":"post-672271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-blue-jays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-blue-jays","10":"tag-bluejays","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-toronto","13":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","14":"tag-torontobluejays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116379130274410479","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}