What about a Designated Fielder?

Carrying on with our discussion of the designated hitter (DH) from our previous post, we thought a bit further about the rationale of replacing the pitcher with another hitter.  It appears prior to the American League adopting the DH rule in 1973 that the first real consideration to adopt a DH occurred in the late 1920s.  It was then that the National League president John Heydler attempted to introduce a 10th-man designated hitter, and almost convinced National League clubs to agree to try it during spring training in 1929.

That proposal did not catch on and instead it was not until the late 1960’s that momentum to implement the DH began when batting averages plunged and pitchers dominated.  In order to address the lack of offense MLB lowered the pitching mounds in 1969, followed by the American League adopting the DH in 1973.  One could argue that lowering the mound did not fundamentally change the game, but the same cannot be said about adding the DH. 

Let us imagine if there was not a DH rule in place today, then Shohei Ohtani (who is also a gifted fielder and can play other positions) and the Angels would have a competitive advantage because they have a pitcher who would be able to outhit the opposing pitcher’s team.  Don’t the Angels have a reason to profit from the fact that they have a player that can hit like a regular fielder but also pitch?  Why should the DH rule take away that competitive advantage?

In this case, they found (signed) a player that outhits most pitchers, but instead the DH rule has minimized their advantage.  Previously all NL teams were on the same level as their pitchers were most likely sub-200 averages.  The implementation of the DH raised the collective averages of each team, but did not provide any advantage to a single team.  Players like Ohtani are extremely rare, but as noted in our previous article it is less uncommon to find pitchers that at least hit over .200.  Teams that can find and develop such pitchers that can both hit (albeit marginally) and pitch well should be rewarded.  Instead the DH has removed not just the strategy from the game (i.e. the double switch), but also dumbed down organizations and scouting departments who only need to find pitchers that throw well.

If the purpose of the DH is to substitute for the pitcher’s batting spot and their poor average, why not take this solution a step further?  Why not identify the worst fielding player on a team and have a designated fielder for that player?  This great fielding player would just come in and substitute for one of the worst players on the field. Essentially the substituted player would become almost a second DH.

Let us go even farther though.  Why not have a team identify their top nine hitters and their top nine defensive players and have completely different players at bat and in the field?  The game would then mirror professional football in some respects.  There would then be a full team of one-way players, on both the offensive and defensive sides.

Obviously, our tongue in cheek comment is here to make a point.  Baseball is not football and the game should be predicated on players both batting and fielding.  The goal should be for teams to scout and acquire complete, two-way players who perform as well both offensively and defensively.  If there is a great hitting player, but their fielding is lacking, then that team has to live with the consequences when that player is out in the field.  The opposite is also equally true of a great defensive player that hits poorly.  A team must weigh the costs and the benefits.  The DH rule therefore took away major league team’s decision making and created two one-way players on the team, pitchers and the designated hitter.

The rationale to inject more offense into the game by adopting the DH rule Wikipedia DH (now the Universal DH rule) were clear, but disparages the essence of the game.  This disparagement of the game is not just from a historical and strategic perspective (both on the field and in the front offices), but also by changing the basic skills required to play major league baseball.