The designated hitter’s place in baseball
Toronto Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero played a key role in Toronto’s 5-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on June 26. Most of Romero’s contribution came from the mound – a complete game, four-hitter – but a portion of it came from home plate.
In the sixth inning, Romero hit a key two-run single, giving his team some needed breathing room. What made this routine offensive play noteworthy was the fact that Romero rarely picks up a bat. Needless to say, witnessing the Blue Jay hurler knock in two runs was startling; comical too.
Like his American League pitching counterparts, Romero is not used to swinging a bat. To some, the thought of an AL pitcher stepping up to the plate is as scary as walking on a tight rope, hundreds of feet above ground. The fear is not as intense for National League pitchers since they have to hit more often but, nevertheless, pitchers tend to be poor batters anyway. AL teams, however, don’t often have to worry about this thanks to the designated hitter.
The DH position is perhaps the most unique aspect in professional sports. No other league – at least in North America – allows a rule that creates inequality between rival conferences or divisions. Just imagine the NFL having a rule where NFC teams use four downs while AFC teams use three; or the NBA allowing Western Conference teams to have a designated free-throw shooter, while Eastern Conference teams are forced to put whoever got fouled on the free-throw line.
Despite following the same rules, the presence of the DH has led to the creation of two styles of baseball: One – featured in the AL – where the DH allows teams to put their potentially-best hitting lineups together and prevents weak hitters (ie, pitchers) from hindering any scoring opportunities; the other – featured in the NL – where teams change their lineups during the match to prevent the pitcher from having an at-bat for as long as possible (used in later innings and known as the double switch).
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At times, these styles clash. Most notably during interleague matches and the World Series. Some would argue this allows one team to have an unfair advantage. This ultimately raises the question of whether it’s time for Major League Baseball to adopt some consistency for its two leagues.
One suggestion would be for the National League to implement the DH position. A likely scenario since most professional, semi-professional and collegiate leagues uses the DH. MLB now uses the DH position for the All-Star Game, even if the event is taking place in an NL stadium; as was the case in Arizona this year.
A case could also be made for the American League to get rid of the DH and force its pitchers to hit. The DH position wasn’t implemented until 1973, meaning AL hurlers had to hit for decades. It would also allow AL teams to use the double-switch, adding more strategy to the game.
Seamheads.com founder and president Mike Lynch has always preferred AL rules, but feels hitters have had an advantage long enough and would like to see low-scoring games.
“The National League is still playing the same brand of baseball (more or less) that’s been played since spectators started paying to watch in the mid-1800s,” says Lynch. “Sure, the rules have changed over the years, but their pitchers are still expected to hit just as they’ve always been. As much as I like offense, I think there’s been too much since the DH was implemented and I wouldn’t have a problem if the DH was abolished. Pitchers appear to be catching up to hitters again and I hope that trend continues.”
However, Lynch also points out that such a change cannot happen overnight.
“I don’t think the DH could be abolished in one fell swoop,” says Lynch. “Players at all levels have been playing under those rules for so long. It would be unfair to pull the DH out from under them without an adjustment period.”
“Back in the day, the best athletes were pitchers who played shortstop and batted cleanup when they weren’t on the mound. These days, pitchers simply pitch and don’t have to worry about hitting because of the DH, regardless of the league or level. If the DH was suddenly yanked, we’d see worse-hitting pitchers than ever before and that wouldn’t be good.”
One could easily come up with a list of pros and cons for the elimination of the DH. There’s plenty of information to fuel both sides of the argument.
If he were still alive, Charlie Finley, the former eccentric owner of the Oakland Athletics, would demand the NL adopt the DH position.
“The average fan comes to the park to see action, home runs,” Finley once said, as retold byESPN.com‘s Jeff Merron in a 2003 article. “He doesn’t come to see a one-, two-, three- or four-hit game. I can’t think of anything more boring than to see a pitcher come up, when the average pitcher can’t hit my grandmother.”
Conversely, having AL pitchers hit could create safer conditions on the field.
This theory was presented by John-Charles Bradbury and Doug Drinen of the University of the South (Sewanee, Tennessee) in 2004. Bradbury and Drinen, an economist and a mathematician respectively, argued the DH position posed a moral hazard – an economic term that defines someone who is apt to take part in risky behavior because they are covered for it.
As explained by Daniel H. Pink in a 2004 New York Times article, the two scholars studied data from games during an eight-year span. Based on the information, they found that batters in AL matches were hit by a pitch at a rate that was 15% more than their NL counterparts. Bradbury and Drinen deduced that AL pitchers could be more inclined to “bean” a batter because they don’t hit and therefore, won’t have to worry about any kind of retaliation.
Perhaps the best argument for both sides involves the fate of certain players.
“Without the DH, an amazing hitter like Edgar Martinez may never have gotten the chance to play as long as he did,” explains Mike Lynch. “On the other hand, players no longer have to be complete players like they were expected to be prior to the DH and that’s too bad. A guy like Ike Boone, who hit .337 with a .901 OPS for the Red Sox in 1924, ended up being a career minor leaguer because he was slow and defensively challenged.”
Those who prefer the DH will argue the position gives all players an opportunity to help their team. Those who don’t will argue the DH unfairly puts more of an emphasis on hitting than defense or speed.
Debating the merits of the designated hitter will definitely continue. Any decision made by MLB to correct the inconsistency between the AL and NL appears to be on the back burner, given the league’s attention to the possible restructuring of the playoff format.
But if any decision is made, one consideration will be how the fans react to the change, whatever that may be. This ultimately leads to the main factor – money.
“Baseball is a business and offense puts fannies in the seats,” says Lynch. “I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the NL adopted the DH.”
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