To DH or Not to DH

It certainly makes rosterbating less fun.
Setting up a roster would be so much easier, plus the ability to rest and rotate good hitters if you don’t want a dedicated DH.

I don’t think it makes as much of a difference about bad fielding prospects though. They’re probably not good enough to DH anyway.

I would guess not. It’s been around since 1973, much longer than the “reign of the AL”.

I would guess that if the bat’s good enough to make a significant impact, the team will find a way to get them into the lineup.

timflannery

I was wondering about the difference between AL and NL pitchers and their K counts. Do AL pitchers have more Ks because the DH is looking for a hit and will therefore never bunt, or do NL pitchers have more Ks because most pitchers cannot hit anyway?

Just a question that I have always had on my mind that I was hoping someone might answer.

Call me weird but I like watching pitchers hit.

Shawon Dunston

I like it the way it is. It’s cool that the two leagues do it differently.

i think they should create the designated fielder where all he does is play the field and never bats. that way we could watch a guy like omar play for a few more years and appreciate what he does. and it could combine with the dh, and still leave the pitcher to hit.
solved

I hope the NL never adopts it. I like that there is some level of difference between the two leagues.

And saying it’s some huge advantage for the AL is silly – the NL was a superior league for years while the AL had the DH.

Glenn Dickey wrote a good column a few years ago on the DH and how it gives an advantage to AL teams. I didn’t save it, and he charges for old columns, the sly old AL style writer that he is, so we are going by memory:
1. older free agents sign with the AL because they can get atbats DHing.
2. young hitters with weak fielding sign with the AL. Maybe fielding improves later.
3. pitchers stay in games longer with no double switch. So they think they can get more wins and Ks and improve their stats for next contract—pitchers prefer AL.
4. pitchers think they will stay healthier with no baserunning. Probly correct.
5. teams don’t have to carry as many relief pitchers, so they get more young position players seasoned. Then in post season, you don’t need as many relief pitchers anyway.
6. Shawon Dunston, Shinjo. Man, did Dusty have a useless bench. AL team would not have survived like that with zero preparedness for DH.

The Giants drafted a all-bat no defense player last year in the second round, so no.

It’s not baseball.

That is all.

It eliminates the strategy from the game. When you have the pitcher hitting, all of a sudden you need a smart manager (maybe Boch belongs in the AL…), because you have to decide whether your pitcher should bunt, should hit, or should be substituted for a pinch hitter. In the AL, the strategy up and down the lineup is basically “I HIT BALL HARD!”; it’s a little more subtle than that, obviously, but baseball is kind of stupid in the AL. And it does give a pretty big advantage. Let’s look at an example:

Player A: +30 batting-17.5 fielding-12.5 positional=0.0 WAR
Player B: +12.5 batting-0 fielding-12.5 positional=0.0 WAR

To the NL, these players are interchangeable. Both are at replacement level, the first because his defense and position negate his offense, and the second because his position negates his offense. But to the AL, Player A is valuable, while Player B isn’t. If we adjust for the DH:

Player A: +30 batting-17.5 positional=12.5 RAR=1.2 WAR (or so)
Player B: +12.5 batting-17.5 position= -5 RAR= -0.5 WAR (or so)

All of a sudden, Player A is valuable, and Player B isn’t. So the AL team can sign Player A and slot him at DH, squeezing value out of a player who is otherwise valueless. This brings more opportunity when signing free agents, because Player A’s are more plentiful than Player B’s (hitting is overvalued, so great hitters tend to be developed more than great fielders), and even if they weren’t, the sheer size of the player pool means you can find all-offense players to provide additional WAR. The DH allows the AL more flexibility in where it can find value, and that is a distinct advantage.

Furthermore, in interleague games, the AL team with their DH has the advantage of being able to play either the typical 1B/3B/OF or the DH. If, for example, Joel Piniero is starting for the Angels, Scioscia probably won’t be starting whoever’s playing DH for them next year, because Piniero is a groundball pitcher who relies on his defense. But if Verlander with his 10.09 K/9 is starting for the Tigers, maybe Leyland can start his DH (Ordonez, I would assume, though I think they rotate) because the decreased amount of balls in play makes it less likely that they would screw up, and therefore could provide more value than the typical starting position player. Either way, the DH provides the opportunity (whether realized or not) to sub a glove for a bat when the situation calls for it, a luxury most NL teams don’t have (they would presumably start their best hitters, and wouldn’t keep a great hitter who can’t field either on the bench or on the roster, because they don’t get to use the DH enough for that to be practical).

I honestly don’t know how I feel about it. I understand the history of not having a DH, but if the AL is never going to get rid of it, doesn’t it put the NL at an inherent disadvantage (recent Phillies success not withstanding)?

No.

can anyone think of examples where certain teams in one part of a sports league have different rules than the others? are there any apt analogies in non sports areas where this is the case?
it feels like the bcs argument that being the only sport without a tourney makes them unique, while those that think and observe find the difference to be anachronistic…

This may be just my opinion, but watching American League games is just much less exciting for me, because of the DH. Watching pitchers hit is fun, and there is so much more strategy involved when pitchers bat. Timmy’s pitching a great game going into the eighth, but the score is tied and we have a runner in scoring position… do you pull him or let him hit? There are none of these types of desicions in DH baseball. It’s just hitter after hitter after hitter.

Also, I remember seeing something about how American League games last a lot longer on average, because better hitters means more hits means longer games. I don’t like watching 4-5 hour, 9 inning games.

should be abolished ASAP

I wish the average pitcher stepped up and actually tried to become a better hitter. Some of these guys don’t even make an effort.

I posted this under the pro-“Let the pitcher hit” thread they had on Fangraphs today. Figured I’d repost it here.

I’m going to offer something a little different – I advance that baseball is more than the sum of its parts. Baseball is not merely competition, although we compete, and it is not merely a struggle for victory, although one team will prove victorious. Baseball, in fact, is life. Thus, my argument will draw from the ancient trifecta of truth, goodness, and beauty.

Truth. Life is messy, disorderly, and not ideal. Plato, in his ideal state, foresaw exactly one task for each citizen. The shoemaker makes shoes, and nothing more. The guardian guards, and that’s all. This ideal was dramatically reintroduced with the assembly line and modern factories. A man stands in line and does one thing, and one thing only. He does only that, and thus does it better, quicker, more efficient. And it is soul-crushing.

This is exactly why baseball, the embodiment of pastoral within the urban, springs to such popularity. It is not a factory. It allows men to escape that soul-crushing sameness, that dullness of efficiency. On the baseball field, a man is joyously complex. He must throw, hit, run, and catch all with skill. All things are required of him, not just one motion, repeated over and over. Plato had it wrong – man is more than just a wielder of a single tool. His arms, legs, fingers, toes, eyes, and heart all yearn for something more. The DH is not true.

Goodness. When I instruct my son, I instruct him in many things. He will only "be" one of them in a career. Maybe a baseball player (oh, how I dream!), but perhaps a CPA, or a mailman, or a dairy farmer. I don’t know. But when I instruct him, even if I knew what he would be, I would impart to him many skills. This is how you look at the stars, this is how you read a book, this is how you change a headlight on a car. Do I think he’ll master every skill? No. Nor should I. But that’s not the point. The point is that learning, exploring, discovering, and practicing things is good. It helps him grow, discover his own strengths and weakness. And when he discovers a weakness, does that mean he gives up? No – now he learns how to work with that weakness. In doing so he because more well-rounded, he learns how to work through adversity, he learns how to face the inevitable frailty that all mankind shares. The DH fails in this regard. It gives up. There is no growth, no facing adversity. It turns from richness to pale simplicity. The DH is not good.

Beauty. Some may find beauty in starkness. Some may find beauty in a plain white room – and there is some. There can be beauty in simplicity, but it is nothing to the splash of color on a great man’s canvas. The subtle weaving together of disparate parts to create harmony in music is greater than the hum of a single note. Baseball is built on such beauty. Nine men come together to form a team. All must play, and all must play equally. If one man fails to excel in one part, his teammates must support him. It brings out the nobility of human endeavor. The hitters support the pitchers, the fielders and pitcher support the hitter. There is a perichoretic union between offense and defense. To take this away robs the game of its beauty, returns it to the factory that the men of this land originally fled. There is beauty in this game, and every time the DH steps to the plate, it dims.

So there you have it. Somewhat subjective? Yes. And it won’t appeal to everyone, I know that. But that’s why I dislike the DH.

although i like the way things are- it makes things interesting. pichers are baseball players, they should be competent in all facets of the game. the DH is a position that’s one-faceted. while it’s had some great players play at the position, it basically lets fat people who couldn’t catch a ball with ten hands, hit