The DH and the Disappearance of Strategy

On April 6, 1973, Ron Blomberg came to bat for the New York Yankees as the first designated hitter in MLB history.  Prior to that year, pitchers in both leagues came to bat.  It was not until 2022 that the National League also permanently adopted the designated hitter rule that almost now completely wipes out the possibility that a pitcher will swing a bat, unless they are named Shohei Ohtani.  The “Ohtani Rule”, as it is unofficially called, allows a starting pitcher to also fill the role as designated hitter.  Then if a manager decides to remove that same starting pitcher from a game, they can continue to bat as the designated hitter.  Kind of like playing two positions, but not at the same time.

In theory, this Ohtani Rule makes sense, but let us examine the pros and cons for adopting the universal DH.

Pros

1) Pitchers are by far the worst hitters on a team and their averages have only steadily declined historically.  Pitchers’ batting averages are normally well below the .200 mark and even something close to that level would be considered outstanding in this day and age.  See this link below for a list of pitcher’s collective batting averages by year: https://stathead.com/tiny/yEY6Y. In addition, anecdotally, much of the fan base prefers the DH as compared to a pitcher, rather than just representing an automatic out or at best performing a sacrifice bunt (“a bunt what is that!”, some newer fans might ask).  Some might say, what is the point of a pitcher coming to bat if their likelihood of getting on base is not much more than a one in 10 chance.

2) The other argument is that the DH protects pitchers from injury, since they are no longer batting or running the bases.

Objectively, both of these are sound arguments for installing the universal DH and sidelining pitchers from batting chores. Let us look at the other side of the mitt though.

Cons

1) Believe it or not, there were some outstanding hitting pitchers before Ohtani.  This listing shows 20 pitchers who hit .300 or higher since 1973, led by Orel Hershiser who hit .356 in 1993 on 73 at bats.

2) Pitchers often do not go past five or six innings any longer, so there is a reduced likelihood that a starting pitcher would actually be exposed to four at bats. Furthermore, relief pitchers seem to normally pitch no more than an inning so even a reliever has a relatively smaller chance to hit.

3) Although few and far between, it is a special moment when a pitcher comes through in the clutch or hits that unexpected home run.  We all have that tendency to root for the underdog, and what bigger underdog are pitchers when batting?  We all know the likelihood is slim that they deliver a big hit, but when it does happen, it becomes a special moment.

Here is one of those moments, when Bartolo Colon as a member of the New York Mets in 2016 hit his one and only home run in his career.  The announcer stated on this telecast that, “this was one of the great moments in the history of baseball”.  Call it hyperbole, but if you watch this clip below you can definitely feel the excitement and uniqueness of a guy who hit only .084 in his career belting a home run.  What was even more fun was seeing all his teammates go into the clubhouse, so no one was on the bench after he circled the bases and then was mobbed by his teammates just afterwards.

Truly, a fun moment and the fans seemed to revel in it despite Colon hitting his blast at the visitor park in San Diego.   Well at least the Met fans in San Diego did that day! Based on that one clip it did seem like there were more Met than Padre fans in San Diego that day.

4) The last con is the probably one of the biggest in our minds and it relates to strategy.  Eliminating the pitcher from hitting also removed the strategic move of the double switch.  For those not familiar, the double switch is when a team knowing that their pitcher would be coming up in the next inning, and wanting to avoid that pitcher taking their normal turn, would not only remove the pitcher but also replace one fielder at that time.  Then the new fielder would take the pitcher’s spot in the batting order and the pitcher would take the replaced fielder’s spot.  In addition, another bit of strategy was just deciding whether to allow the pitcher to hit later in a game if the team was trailing or tied, or to send up a pinch hitter.

The implementation of the universal DH has removed the strategy associated with the double switch and any decision making by managers later in the game as whether to keep or remove their pitchers for a pinch hitter.

The last point here is worth emphasizing, since the nuances of the game whether it be implementing the universal DH, automatic intentional walks (see Baseball Purist – Intentional Walks), limiting pick off attempts, and restricting pitching and batter changes are all ways of sanitizing the game and removing strategy.  Baseball is not just a sport predicated on the athleticism of the players and their decision making on the diamond, but also was a sport that was a bit of chess match, matching the wits of managers. That cerebral and strategic portion of the game has essentially been snuffed out by the MLB hierarchy, since their belief is that the current fan only yearns for action and a quicker game.

For another joyous moment involving a pitcher hitting, we take you back to the 2008 World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies.    

In that 2008 series, starting pitcher Joe Blanton hit a solo home run in game four of the series.  The Phils went on to win that series 4-1. Blanton was the 15th pitcher in World Series history to hit a home run and barring a change in the rules, he will likely be the last.