Baseball 2018: Is it the year of the home run? The year of the strikeout?

Nope, it is the year of the position player getting a chance to pitch.

Already this season, entering Friday’s games, there were 49 instances, by Baseball-Reference’s tally, in which a second baseman, center fielder, catcher or some other position player has gamely headed to the mound to try to finish out a contest that has gotten out of hand.

That tops the record of 36 appearances, set just last year. As recently as 2010, the use of a position player to play the role of pitcher occurred only nine times over the course of the regular season.

The trend has been prompted by the heavier and heavier use of bullpens as starting pitchers go fewer innings. The increased workload for relievers has, in turn, led managers to look elsewhere when a game is essentially out of hand. Why waste a pitcher, even a mop-up man, in a lost cause? Clearly, more teams are now thinking that way, especially given the limitations of a major league roster.

Here are some highlights, and lowlights, of baseball’s newest trend, with a nod to some historical precedents, too.

The winning game

When a position player takes the mound, one thing is almost for sure: His team is far behind and will lose the game. But this season there was one exception — a crazy 16-inning game in Miami in July.

Tampa Bay had used seven real pitchers through 15 innings and managed to score five runs in the top of the 16th.

With this seemingly solid lead, and because reliever Vidal Nuno had been injured while running the bases, the Rays decided to send out catcher Jesus Sucre to close out the win, or at least buy some time while a bona fide pitcher warmed up. Sucre had thrown two innings in 2015 and one in 2017, but not especially effectively.

Sucre proceeded to give up three straight singles to the Marlins to start the bottom of the 16th. Suddenly, the tying run was in the on-deck circle. Sucre then did get an out, a sacrifice fly. By then, reliever Jose Alvarado was ready to go, and he finished for the save.

Sucre pitched better three weeks later, coming in for the ineffective center fielder Carlos Gomez and getting two outs to finish out a lopsided loss against the Baltimore Orioles.

Most appearances

Two Milwaukee Brewers, infielder-outfielder Hernan Perez and catcher Erik Kratz, have become old hands at pitching, coming on three times each this season. Perez has a poor 13.50 earned run average, but he did go two innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 22 without giving up a run.

Kratz has thrown three full innings with only one earned run on his ledger. “If it can get some guys fresh so we can use them tomorrow or the next day, I definitely take pride in that,” he told MLB.com.

The best

Rookie infielder Alex Blandino of the Cincinnati Reds gave up a single and a wild pitch to the Cleveland Indians in his one inning on the mound in July, but he also fanned Brandon Guyer and Roberto Perez, both swinging. He is the only position player with a two-strikeout outing this year. He also rolled out a serviceable knuckleball.

The worst

Needless to say, there are a few candidates. Jose Reyes tops the list with a six-run inning in the New York Mets’ historic 25-4 loss to the Washington Nationals this week. “When you get on the mound and before you throw a pitch, it’s fun,” he said. “But when you start to see people hit a homer and stuff, you get more serious. I want to put a zero up there. But I do the best that I can.”

The longest

Many position players, when asked to pitch, are popping in for a ninth-inning cameo. But not infielder Daniel Descalso of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who got handed the ball for 22⁄3 innings against Colorado during a blowout loss July 11. The Rockies bashed two homers off him, and he was relieved by catcher Alex Avila, who went two shutout innings. Still, Arizona lost, 19-2.

Historically bad

In 2001, outfielder John Mabry of the Marlins came out to pitch the eighth inning with his team trailing the Atlanta Braves, 15-3. Single, walk, walk, single, walk, single and a groundout (surprise), and he was pulled for a real reliever. He wound up with a 135.00 ERA for the game. He played for six more seasons but never got another shot at the mound.

Historically good

Who was the best to try out his pitching chops? Perhaps Rocky Colavito, the cannon-armed right fielder of the 1950s and ’60s.

In 1958, he took to the hill for the Indians in relief of Hoyt Wilhelm. He stayed out there for three innings of no-hit, shutout ball, surrendering just three walks.

It took 10 years before he got another chance. Then 35 and playing for the New York Yankees in his final year in the big leagues, Colavito came in with the Yankees down, 5-0, and immediately got Detroit slugger Al Kaline to ground into a double play. He ended up pitching 22⁄3 innings of shutout ball.

Meanwhile, the Yankees rallied. Colavito scored the winning run and got the victory. He also made way for conventional relievers to finish the game.

“That Houk has guts,” Yankees general manager Lee MacPhail said of manager Ralph Houk. For sending Colavito in? “No. For taking him out.”