The Implementation of a Universal DH is a Winner in So Many Ways
The extraordinary and erudite Reese Kaplan posted an article in Macks Mets recently on who might DH for the Mets, now that it seems like the DH is a definite in the NL for 2022 and beyond.
Some, perhaps many, love to have their pitcher up there at the dish, hitting, sacrificing, sometimes thrilling with an unexpected base hit (think Bart's blast in San Diego several years back), the managerial moves, etc.
I think those folks are sadly living in the past, perhaps even a touch delusional, and need to kiss the good old days goodbye and see that the idea of pitchers hitting is utter foolishness.
Here's 10 reasons why:
1) It is very difficult for professional hitters to hit well enough. Most guys signed as pro hitters never make the big leagues. Why? They can't hit superior pitching. In fact, at any given point in time, I'd estimate there are only 250 men on Planet Earth capable of hitting major league pitching well for a sustained period of time.
Why ask non-hitters, otherwise known as pitchers, to try it?
2) There may be 250 guys in the world who can hit well. NONE of them, though, could hit major league pitching sufficiently well as soon as they were drafted or signed. Yet, pitchers almost never get to hit in the minor leagues anymore - unlike their hitter counterparts, they do not get to face live pitching from a batters box. In the old days, they did hit in games while in the minors. For many years, though, they almost entirely have not.
Try this exercise - pick any current Met, and picture back on the day they were first signed as a pro, and now also picture the club's GM telling them, "Uhh, there's been a bit of change in plans. You're not going to the instructional league or low A ball, as we expected. Tomorrow, you're the NY Mets' starting SS, and here are your plane tickets. See you in Queens. Relax, relax, you'll hit fine - big league pitching is a breeze to hit."
It won't happen because they couldn't handle it. Pete Alonso hit 53 HRs in 2019, but if you signed him out of Florida in 2016 and stuck him on first base for the Mets the very next day, he'd fail. Because without extensive time to adapt to progressively better pitching, he would have been in over his head.
If Pete couldn't do it, if Francisco Alvarez couldn't do it, why ask a pitcher to try?
Jerry Koosman wasn't a great career MLB hitter, going .119/.151/.141. In the minors, he was worse... .093/.259/.206 in 178 plate appearances. Can you imagine how bad he would have hit in the majors if he never got a chance to bat in the minors?
Even with the minor league at bats he had, he still hit just .070 over his first 3 major league seasons. Heck, he might have hit .025 in his first 3 MLB seasons without some minors ABs as part of his player development.
3) A batting pitcher could get hit by a pitch and hurt.
4) A batting pitcher could strain himself swinging. (Think Jake, think Thor).
5) A batting pitcher could pull a muscle running. (Think Carrasco).
6) Pitchers who start rarely go more than 6 innings anymore. Why have a pitcher get on base and tire out and, because he's tired, leave an inning earlier than otherwise? Heck, on the Mets, when do their pitchers score a run, anyway?
7) Sacrifice bunting, a skill a pitcher might be able to master as well as a pro hitter, is a less-used tool in baseball than it was decades ago.
8) Pitchers we all remember who could hit pretty well in baseball in the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's were hitting against guys who I imagine averaged perhaps 90-91 MPH on fastballs. Now they are firing 5 MPH faster, which is essentially the difference between night and day.
Pitchers now hit worse, in part, because it is harder for a pitcher who is an amateur batter to bat against high heat. Even real MLB hitters strike out far more these days than back in those 1950s - 1970s days for the same reason: high heat.
If hitters can't avoid strikeouts against fireballers, how can pitchers?
9) The DH in the minors means more minor leaguers hit each game per team - 9 vs. the former 8 - but the fact that MLB teams need more pitchers than in the past also means that the old standard of 15 position players per team is now 13 per team, sometimes 12. More hitters training to hit, but less job openings....
I asked Eddie Griffin about that mismatch situation, and he said, "Nah, dat ain't right."
10) The NL pitchers' batting results speak for themselves:
In 2021, NL teams' pitchers on average hit a gosh-awful .111 with 1 HR and 11 RBIs, per team.
That many 1's = a real zero in my book.
And only about 27 sacrifices by pitchers each year per team, or 1 every week, for you purists who like to see pitchers lay down sac bunts. Don't go to the kitchen for a beer, you might miss that week's pitcher bunt.
In 1969, NL pitchers hit 34 homers, or 20 more than NL pitchers hit in 2021, and the 1969 fellas hit closer to .140, or above (I'd give you more exact totals, but for some reason, I cannot copy MLB stats into a table to add totals, and I don't feel like doing all the math manually). More HRs by pitchers, of course, were in part due to starting pitchers staying in games longer, and getting more at bats, I will concede that.
For older fans, let's go further back in the time machine and consider the 1955 NL season. NL teams' hitting by pitchers that season averaged .177, 4 HRs and 27 RBIs, a very far cry from 2021's .111, 1 HR, and 11 RBIs.
Baseball has changed in that regard, period. Pitchers without minor league hitting development, going in against harder throwing pitchers, are just going to hit worse.
But, back to focusing on 2021 - why on earth does any "traditionalist fan" want to see the pitchers on the team he loves hit an abysmal and dreadfully boring .111 with 1 HR and 11 RBIs over a whole season, while risking pitcher injury in the process?
I sure as heck do not.
Give the hitting jobs to the hitters, not to amateurs.
VIVE LA UNIVERSAL DH!
Do you agree, Monsieurs et Madames?
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