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.
1. The new pitcher needs a few pitches to get used to the mound, where the divots are, how it plays. Every mound is different. But cut it from 8 warmups to 4, perhaps.
2. They have gotten rid of the four-pitch intentional walk. They’ve been waving players to first base for a couple of years now. (They just hold up four fingers.) If I were a hitter, I don’t think I’d like it.
3. No, the pitching distance has been the same since the 1800s. This is tampering with the long-established way the game is played. What you want to do is lower it, as they did after “The Year of the Pitcher” in 1968, when it went from 15 inches to 10. It takes some angle off the ball, reducing the movement a bit, and at any speed, straight is easier to hit.
Lowering the mound works. Drop it from 10 inches to 7, and see what happens.
Not to mention the injury Chien Ming-wang suffered running the bases in San Diego.
I remember watching a game at Dodger Stadium in 1977 or 1978, Tommy Lasorda managing the Dodgers, Sparky Anderson managing the Reds. I had a scorecard (I like to keep score) and I was marking players off when used. I could call a bunch of moves before Lasorda and Andeson made them. when my mother asked how, I showed her my card, and I showed her that I marked who was used, so I knew who was available and what the strategy was.
What people who say “baseball is boring” don’t understand is that it’s a strategy game, much more than any other sport. The DH negates that. How often do you see a pinch-hitter in the AL?
2018 Dodgers: 303 PH AB
2018 Astros: 78 PH AB
Interestingly, baseball didn't get to this point -- where so few balls are put in play -- by accident. It's a natural consequence of analytics ... because computers helped us realize that getting runners on base and moving them around the bases is actually a very inefficient way to score runs.
Build them like the Polo Grounds, old Yankee Stadium, and tiger Stadium, with nice, short, inviting foul lines and a deep centerfield. You have fences for the power hitters, good power alleys to produce lots of doubles (ane therfore men on base), and a place for pitchers where balls can go to die.
Ballparks like that make oyu play a mor einteresting brand of baseball.
Yankee Stadium was not built to be a football field. Taht was not what Col. Ruppert had in mind. The Giants didn’t arrive until many years later.
Prior to building Yankee Stadium, the Yankees shared the Polo Grounds with the baseball Giants. Yankee Stadium was built to take advantage of Babe Ruth.
I have been to ballgames at all three of the ballparks I mentioned. All three had deep CFs, shallow foul lines, and good power alleys. That forces you to play baseball, not Home Run Derby.
You keep saying this park had "good power alleys." Maybe you think it wasn't designed for football, but there's no getting around the fact that with the exception of the foul lines, the left field dimensions were 40-60 feet longer than the corresponding right field dimensions.
The stadium opened for the 1923 season for the Yankees. The first college football game was played there in October of 1923. College games were played there regularly over the years.
I know the history of the place. It was not designed for football. It ws designed to take advantage of Colonel Ruppert’s best asset — and to get in John McGraw’s face.
This interesting observation was posted on a FAcebook baseball group I belong to:
“I was doing a little research. All this talk about DHers being accomplished hitters. I couldn’t find easily gathered stats for 2018; but I did for ‘17. Of the “top 15” not 1 batted .300 26 guys, that are real players batted .300 that season but the guys that “hit for a living” not only couldn’t hit .300, none came close. The guy that came closest was Corey Dickerson. He hit .282 and he’s in the NL now. 9 hit .250 or less. 1 hit less than .200. The top 9 paid DHers for this coming season are going to make about $175,000,000 combined. 1 would think that at least 1 of these guys with what they’re being paid that “hit for a living” would be Triple Crown contenders.”
In many cases, the DH is a former slugger well past his glory days. Good for the occasional dramatic home run, they are basically an easy out, as your stats point out. Ball clubs are just not getting their bang for the buck.
Or pumped up on steroids, like Big Papi.
Those are interesting stats, but they seem misleading to me. Go back and see the same figures for home runs, RBIs and slugging pct. Most DHs seem to be power hitters these days. Giancarlo Stanton, for example, was the Yankees’ DH last year most of the time. He only hit .266 but he led the team in HRs and RBIs.
yup, the kid was an ace in the making and never recovered from that injury.
It's also worth noting that since the DH has no value on the field defensively, it's probably the lineup spot that gets platooned more often than any other.
Do you think he wouldn’t be in the lineup if they didn’t have the DH?
There are only so many starting jobs as first basemen to go around!
Perhaps not, but first base seems to be the Yankees’ weak position.
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