Posted on 02/11/2019 10:07:24 PM PST by TBP
Major League Baseball announced Wednesday that there could be many potential rule changes applied to both the American and National Leagues. One of these potential rule changes is adding the universal designated hitter (also referred to as “DH”). This would take pitchers out of NL lineups and replace them with a hitter of the manager’s choice.
The AL implemented the DH in 1973, but the NL has always stayed away from it until now. This has been one of the most frequently talked about topics over the years. So let’s take a look at why the the universal designated hitter would be bad for MLB.
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Sports Illustrated ✔ @SInow MLB is reportedly discussing rule changes including a three-batter requirement for all pitchers and adding a universal DH http://go.si.com/cWuMBCt
44 8:51 AM - Feb 6, 2019 34 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy The Universal Designated Hitter Would be Bad for the MLB Rule 1.01 This is the first and main reason the designated hitter should not be added to the National League. Rule 1.01 in the official Major League Baseball rule-book states “Baseball is a game between two teams of nine players each…” This rule has remained static for decades in the NL, and when you add a DH to the lineup, teams are technically playing with ten players. This new universal DH rule would break this first objective as well as disrupt baseball’s historical significance.
It Takes Strategy Out Of The Game Many fans of the game believe watching pitchers hit is a boring part of baseball and dread for the ninth spot in the lineup to be on deck. But when pitchers are a part of the lineup, it adds much needed strategy to the game. It’s like Tom Verducci wrote: “If you like the DH, you like checkers. If you like NL style baseball, you like chess. Baseball without the DH is a better, more strategic game. Why tick off half your fan base and tell them you can’t have chess any more and you must like checkers?”
Pinch-hitting Managers must manage their bench and decide when to pinch-hit for their pitcher. At times a pitcher could be performing well but the team is struggling to score runs, so the manager will have to make a decision whether to substitute his pitcher for a player off the bench for a chance to breakthrough with some runs, or decide to leave his dealing pitcher in. Another example would be if a teams bullpen is depleted, the manager could decide to leave his pitcher in the game to bat even if it means risking a chance to score. These type of managerial decisions make the game of baseball much more exciting.
Bunting Another important strategy that is used when pitchers bat is bunting. Bunting is becoming obsolete in this era of baseball with everyone trying to swing for the fences. Although bunting adds a refreshing strategy to the game of baseball, it will become even more obsolete if the MLB decides to add the universal DH.
Pitchers Can Hit Most people who are anti-DH will point out players like Ivan Nova who has a career .042 batting average and 92 strikeouts in 144 at-bats. There are certainly many pitchers who cannot hit, but there are also plenty that can. Including the most notable like Madison Bumgarner who has clubbed 17 homers in ten big-league seasons, Michael Lorenzen who launched 4 home-runs last season, and Yovani Gallardo who has hit 12 homers in his career. These guys are not sluggers by any means, but they can definitely handle the bat.
Brandon Woodruff Just ask Brandon Woodruff if pitchers can hit. He took future Hall-of-Famer Clayton Kershaw deep in game one of the 2018 NLCS.
Bartolo Colon And let’s not forget about Bartolo Colon who hit one of the most memorable home runs in recent memory.
The Verdict The sad fact is MLB commissioner Rob Manfred will probably implement the universal DH in the next collective bargaining agreement in 2021. This will more than likely improve the NL offensively, but it will mean the very first objective in the Official Baseball rule book will be broken after decades. Additionally, it will take away a lot of the manager’s strategic decisions, and fans will miss out on the exciting moments such as Brandon Woodruff’s and Bartolo Colon’s home runs.
I do not watch professional baseball so I could not care less what is done.
JoMa
Thome, less than 200 HRs from DH position
I’m already done with pro football. If the NL adds the DH I’ll be thru with baseball too.
Get rid of the DH! I want to see a pitcher nailed in the ribs with an inside pitch in retaliation for the intentional hit he made on an opposing batter......
“100% agree. The DH rule is the worst thing ever to happen to baseball. I hate it... Always have and I want rid of it completely.”
Keep the DH, but he has to hit 9th in the lineup.
Get rid of DH.
DH is about highest paid full-time position. Players association will never allow those jobs to go away.
You bring up a good point which made me think of another: this whole "pitch count" management of the game really irks the crap out of me. How many times do we have to see a pitcher doing really well going into the sixth or seventh inning and getting pulled because his pitch count hits 80-90?
Even worse, I lost count this year every time a pitcher got pulled after five innings. FFS, I'm really not liking any of these changes to baseball, being done in the name of "speeding up the game" because the stupid, worthless millenials don't like a game that lasts more than two-hours and thirty minutes?
Yes.
And what's the deal batters stepping out re-tightening those stupid batting gloves when they didn't even swing?
FMCDH(BITS)
For sure. The DH has ruined baseball. And instant replay has made the game unwatchable. Technology has improved life on Earth but it has ruined sports. In the end, games are played on a field, court or an ice surface, not on television. IP has taken the humanity out of sport.
I grew up with the Red Sox during the 1970s after the DH rule went into effect and typically the DH would be some over-the-hill overweight ballplayer who would literally waddle up to the plate to take his at-bat. He'd smash the occasional home run but most of the time struck out or grounded out in which the DH wouldn't even bother running it out. Then in the World Series, AL pitchers forced to bat for the first time in years would be so over-matched at the plate.
The game is purer when the pitcher has to take his rightful place in the batter's lineup. It will also force scouts to consider batting ability of pitcher prospects as well. Not a bad thing. Babe Ruth started his career as a pitcher and if they had the DH rule then, we might never have known him as a Home Run king.
Are there any teams that actually use the DH as it was originally intended, giving aging superstar players more years? Pujols with the Angels? Every time I watch a AL rules series in interleague play it seems like a different player is in the DH spot every game, like teams just use it rotationally to give someone banged up a break from fielding.
Freegards
Ah, but casual fan interest in baseball is all about hitting. All about action, not dramatic tension. MLB cannot attract a new generation of fans who grew up on video games and violent movies with 1-0 pitchers' duels, even if the old-timers have learned to appreciate the strategy involved. And MLB are having a lot of problems getting millennials interested in their sport.
The DH will eventually come to the National League. As mentioned above, the players union will never allow the AL to do away with it, so logically it follows that the rules for both leagues will one day be equalized.
How many full time DHs are in the AL today? If they are the highest paid players is it because they signed gigantic long term contracts when they could play the field or what?
Freegards
IMHO there was a sea change in opinion on this issue in 2016 when former pitcher Ryan Vogelsong was hit in the face with a pitch while batting. He was an aging #5 starter, but teams looked at that and thought “what if that happens to my $100 million ace, and he never recovers?”
The DH is a bastardization of the game, always has been..
Among other news, pitchers and catchers officially report to Spring Training today. Most of them have been there for at least a week. Baseball is back.
All of this discussion over rules changes is driven by the ugly fact that among young adults, baseball ranks after women’s curling on the popularity list. If baseball doesn’t fix this, the issue of the DH will go away because only one league will survive and the weak sister teams will become AAA teams. It will be interesting to see what happens with the sale of the Fox Sports regional channels and how that affects TV money for the teams. While NFL money is shooting to the moon, money for baseball may actually shrink.
Only 5 full-time DHs qualified for batting title in 2018.
Giancarlo Stanton, Khris Davis, JD Martinez, Sin Shoo Choo, and Nelson Cruz (note that DH-only Edward Encarnacion and Victor Martinez didn’t qualify)
But another 7 players hit 20 or more HRs from the DH position.
AMEN! And they should end regular season inter-league play as well!
Nelson Cruz and Carlos Santana are the two who come to my mind. Cruz was slowing down at age 32, and I think DH helped through the past two or three seasons...he’s 37, and had great numbers last year, with at least one more great productive year left him. Santana is 32...left the American League in 2017 and played for the Phillies. By next season....I think he’ll have to rotate back to the American, if he hopes to get three or four more seasons.
Brandon Moss is another good example. He’s 35, and potentially as a DH, I think he has two more decent seasons left in him (20 HR’s per year). In KC, that’s enough to make them happy.
Looking over history, players like Al Kaline or Willie McCovey would have done better as a DH in the last eight years of their career.
Course, we can make a case for a dozen-odd pitchers....that they had a great deal of talent as hitters.
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