Editing Utility player (section)

== Baseball ==
{{main|Utility player (baseball)}}
[[File:Andrew Romine on September 18, 2011.jpg|thumb|right|In 2017, [[Andrew Romine]] became the fifth player to play all nine positions in a [[Major League Baseball]] game.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Beck |first1=Jason |title=Nine for Romine: Tiger plays every position |url=https://www.mlb.com/news/andrew-romine-plays-all-9-positions-in-1-game-c256945836 |access-date=21 November 2020 |work=[[MLB.com]] |publisher=[[Major League Baseball]] |date=September 30, 2017 |language=en}}</ref>]]
In [[baseball]], a '''utility player''' is a player who can play several different positions. In general, each [[Major League Baseball]] team has at least one player who can be described as a utility player.

Most professional teams have two types of utility players. There are "utility infielders", who usually play all of the infield positions (plus occasionally [[catcher]]). Utility [[outfielder]]s or "fourth outfielders" tend to play all three outfield positions at various times. Occasionally, there will be players who perform a combination of the two duties. Utility players tend to be players who come off the bench, though this is not absolute. Often, players who do not have high prospects to be a major league star will learn additional positions so they can look more attractive to major league clubs as [[bench jockey|bench talent]].

A third type of utility player is often seen in youth baseball, and occasionally in [[college baseball]]—a player talented enough as a [[pitcher]] and [[position player]] to play in both roles. The term "utility player" is not typically used to describe such an individual, with "[[two-way player]]" used instead.

Even more rarely, a player can have the talent to play both roles at the top professional level. [[Babe Ruth]] began his career as a pitcher, but proved to be such a strong hitter that he briefly alternated in the two roles until becoming a full-time position player. A current example is [[Shohei Ohtani]], who made the Best Nine of [[Nippon Professional Baseball|Japan]]'s [[Pacific League]] as both a pitcher and a hitter in [[2016 Nippon Professional Baseball season|2016]], and is a [[designated hitter]] / [[starting pitcher]] who formerly played for the [[Los Angeles Angels]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18208693/shohei-otani-eyeing-move-mlb-2017-season |title=Japanese MVP Shohei Otani weighing MLB move for 2018 |work=ESPN.com |date=December 6, 2016 |access-date=January 9, 2017}}</ref> and currently plays for the [[Los Angeles Dodgers]].