The length of Prince Fielder’s mega-deal with the Detroit Tigers took Nationals fans and others by surprise. Rather than launch into a full analysis of what looks like another lackluster free agency period for the local nine, I’d like to zero in on why the Tigers felt a nine-year contract could work for Fielder while the Nationals most assuredly did not: the designated hitter rule.
The rule allowing a manager to designate a player throughout a game to hit in the lineup slot where the pitcher is scheduled to hit is almost uniform across every level of major league baseball. Based on the relatively simple principles of allowing the hitters to hit and the pitchers to concentrate their efforts on pitching, the designated hitter rule continues to be eschewed by the National League. Thus, all games played in NL ballparks feature the often rally-killing efforts of the starting pitcher in the batters box during the first half of the game, followed by the inevitable cycle of pinch hitters in later innings substituting for the equally offensively worthless string of relief pitchers (with double switches thrown in now and then for good measure).
Many of those who support keeping the DH rule out of the NL point to the added strategic maneuvering involved without the rule in place as reason enough to continue with the way things are in the NL. However, as the rule reaches its 40th season of implementation in the American League, there hasn’t seemed to be a dramatic lack of strategy in play during AL games, where later innings often involve plenty of substitutions of relievers and pinch hitters. Other supporters of the “NL way” don’t like the thought of a guy having absolutely no fielding duties. In a sport that has embraced specialization in just about every other aspect, the DH rule offers the chance to involve popular crowd-drawing players in the game whose gloves usually weren’t the focus of attention anyway. As it is, not every AL team has a single DH who never sees the field, as many teams rotate multiple players into the DH spot in the lineup over the course of a season.
The alternative to the DH rule is forcing every pitcher to participate in hitting, which seems pointless and a waste of time in this era of specialization. Newly acquired pitcher Gio Gonzales remarked in his press conference that his biggest adjustment in moving from the Oakland A’s to the Nationals would be batting each time he starts, as if taking a handful of batting practice swings and hacking at MLB pitching once or twice every five days is a worthwhile use of his or any other starters’ time. It’s hard enough for full-time professional hitters, especially those coming off the bench, to get enough at-bats to maintain their batter’s eye; it’s practically impossible for an NL pitcher to get enough at-bats unless they’re being used regularly as a pinch hitter themselves. The mild entertainment of watching the likes of Livan Hernandez help his own cause with a hit or -- every blue moon -- a home run is dwarfed by the repeated worthless exercise of watching players who don’t specialize in hitting try to hit major league pitching. For those who argue that some pitchers are talented enough to make it in the bigs, I counter that it’s tough enough for most hurlers to make a living by putting all of their training time into pitching the ball effectively, so let them concentrate on that. If some pitcher is a good enough starter and wants to improve his hitting prowess, let him actively sacrifice whatever pitching prep he can spare, and go to an AL team where he can try to be the full-time DH. Of course, the lack of a DH rule in the NL would prevent those pitchers who only would get to hit once a week from actively pursuing a full-time hitting gig if they’re good enough. Even if Babe Ruth were to try it, it’d have to be in the AL.
The other concern with having pitchers in the batter’s box and roaming the base paths is the unnecessary increased exposure to injury. This is particularly relevant with the anticipated expansion of interleague play, as pitchers who don’t even pitch every start will have to spend more time in the batters box -- just not enough to truly train to face MLB-caliber pitching as a prepped hitter. Nats starter Chien-Ming Wang is an example of what can go wrong in this scenario. Wang had compiled a 46-15 record over three seasons with the AL’s new York Yankees prior to a June 2008 interleague game with the Houston Astros, and he sustained a significant foot injury while running the bases. After a lengthy rehabilitation process which kept Wang out for the remainder of the season, Wang was unable to get his pitching mechanics back in sync. It wasn’t until 2011 that Wang was able to demonstrate any level of effectiveness from the mound again. It seems unwise to put hurlers up against MLB pitching when it increases injury risk in exchange for the negligible benefit of a marginal addition of “strategy” or other reasons involving some mythical matters of baseball purity.
Finally, a legitimate concern created by the continued exclusion of the DH rule from the National League is the significant talent drain from the NL to the AL, which was exemplified by Prince Fielder’s signing in Detroit. Recently, most of the lengthier deals involving the top sluggers in the majors have involved NL stars (Albert Pujols, Fielder, Adrian Gonzalez, and supposed Nats target Mark Teixeira) going to the AL, where the presence of the DH rule assuages any concerns about kicking in the last 2-3 years of a deal. Given this development and the overall lack of benefits to the National League of keeping the DH rule from taking effect, it’s time for Major League Baseball to bid farewell to its current anachronistic setup and implement the DH rule in both leagues.
