A totally unbiased conversation about the DH
By Derek Harvey
This week, the Cardinals announced they had lost rotation ace Adam Wainwright to a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered during a plate appearance. This launched what has become an annual conversation on whether or not to bring the designated hitter to the National League. Ten years ago, I would have counted myself among the opposition. Now however I find myself struggling to remember why. So I did the only logical thing one can do in such a situation. I created a time machine so that I might travel back those ten years and debate with my younger self the pros and cons of the DH.
The Now Me: Hello, old young me. The National League has yet to adopt the DH and I find myself wondering, “why not?”
The Old Young Me: Well I’m glad to hear it. I for one enjoy watching pitchers hit. The DH is stupid and it’s not what baseball was meant to be. The American League is just a dumbed down version.
The More Mature Me: Well that’s certainly a lot to take in. Why don’t we start with what baseball was meant to be. I assume I’m talking about the tradition argument?
The Brasher Me: Yeah, I guess. Baseball has always been nine guys versus nine guys. The pitcher is part of the team and he’s supposed to hit. By eliminating that, one fundamentally changes baseball.
The Now Me: That’s not really true though. The AL has had the DH since 1973 and it’s still the same game. Each team still has nine hitters. One league just has eight hitters and a near automatic out.
The Younger Me: Yeah, but I like watching the pitcher hit.
The Now Me: No, we don’t. Not really. We like seeing the pitcher get a hit. It’s a novelty that happens a handful of times. If the average starter gets 60-70 plate appearances he likely gets less than ten hits. Seriously. There were only 12 pitchers that got double digit hits last year. The most had 17. That’s not fun.
The Younger Me: Okay fine, but that’s still how the game was supposed to be.
The Now Me: That depends on which era we’re talking about. When baseball was still young, the pitcher’s job was essentially to groove a fastball to the hitter like Adam Wainwright did to Derek Jeter in last year’s All-Star game. The intention was for the hitter to hit the ball and the fielder to field the ball. That was the fun of the game then. Home runs were boring because the fielders didn’t have a chance at making a play. The game has changed over time. A fan of that style of game might not like what baseball has become. But we like it. And we’ll still like it if…no, when the NL adopts the DH.
The Younger Me: Well, yeah. I guess that’s true. The part about the game evolving over time. I still don’t like the DH. It eliminates the strategy element of NL ball and you have to admit we love that.
The Now Me: There is no strategy in NL ball.
The Worried Me: What? That’s ridonculous. Do people still say that?
The Embarrassed Me: Absolutely not.
The Annoyed Me: How can you say there is no strategy in the National League style of game? That’s exactly what differentiates it and makes it so much better than the neutered AL.
The Also Annoyed Me: Okay, by strategy, we mean pinch hitting and double switching right?
The Jazzed Me: Yeah, that’s the ticket!
The Still Annoyed Me: [Audible Sigh] Yeah that seems like strategy on the surface but it’s really not. The pitcher more often than not dictates when it’s time to pinch hit. Either he’s getting rocked and has to be taken out or he’s reached his pitch limit and has to be taken out. There’s no decision there. Then a manager is tasked with “choosing” which batter to put in. There are five bench players at any given time. But one of them is the back-up catcher and he’s not going to be chosen until necessary because no one wants to be left without their back-up catcher in case of emergency. So really the choice is down to four players. On a balanced bench you might have two LHH and two RHH. The handedness of the pitcher is going to make that decision for you. Now the choice is down to 2. Either they’re the same level offensively, in which case it doesn’t matter who hits, or one of them is better and the 24 base/out state decides which batter is chosen. For example, if there are two outs and runners in scoring position the better batter will be chosen. If there are 2 outs and no one on the lesser batter will be chosen. So you see, free will is an illusion.
The Peeved Me: You left out one other scenario. The game is tied or close, there are base runners, and the pitcher still has gas left in the tank. Does one take leave the pitcher in or pinch hit with the hopes of taking the lead?
The Now Me: So you leave the pitcher in and overwhelming odds are he makes an out which sucks. Or you take the pitcher out, which also sucks because he still could have gone another inning or two. Now you’re wearing out your bullpen and possibly handing the ball to a less effective pitcher. All of which sucks.
The Smug Me: Or you leave the pitcher in, he gets a hit, and it’s awesome!
The Now Me: Dude, we know the manager is just going to have him lay down a bunt and that sucks.
The Deflated Me: Yeah, I guess that’s true. I still can’t get over the fact that a pitcher is still a baseball player and a baseball player should hit. It’s his fault if he’s not good at it.
The Now Me: It’s not really his fault though. They’re not being drafted for their ability to hit nor is that aspect being developed in the minors. Most pitchers don’t hit between high school and AA or AAA and for some of them, that’s four or five years. It’s hard to maintain their hitting ability, if they ever possessed it, after such a long break. In addition to that, pitchers are not the same type of baseball player that a position player is. Position players are more well conditioned. They have to be. They play every day while a pitcher only goes out once every five days. Most pitchers don’t do the same level of conditioning. They don’t need it to pitch effectively so it’s not like they’re doing anything wrong. It might even be smart to not push your body in training since pitching mechanics can be so stressful on the arm. The downside here is that they might leave themselves more open to pulling a hamstring when busting out of the batters box. And if a pitcher does go on the 15-day DL he’s going to miss a much larger percentage of his season than a position player would. So let me ask me this: Why increase the chances of a pitcher hurting himself?
The Young Me: Well jeez, I guess I don’t really have a good answer for that.
The Triumphant Me: So then why am I against the DL coming to the NL?
The Me With Eyes Wide Open: I guess because I’m stubborn and afraid of change.
The Wiser Me: It’s okay. I’m still young. I do get wiser. Now get off my lawn.
The Confused Me: Huh? Never mind. Hey, before you go. The Brewers just drafted this guy Ryan Braun. Third baseman of the future! He’s going to be awesome right?
The Now Me: Yeah, that’s a can of worms I am not going to open.
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