Do you think its sad that pitchers in the American League no longer have to pick up a bat?

Question

and some hitters only get to hit and not play any defense? What happened to real baseball? The Designated hitter is a joke! Baseball is supposed to be played by 9 players who play both defense AND offense. I wish they get rid of the stupid DH. Players today just keep getting pampered.

Answer 1

Yes it is sad, they are some pitchers that can really smack some HR's in the NL, in a way I do like the DH for older guys who still like to play but can handle the everyday stress of playing like Junior, but there is alot more pressure on them to hit, but they should be able to handle it. I think some day it will be gone, there will be alot of players that will be ending their careers early too. People wont want to sign a guy for high dollars just to pinch hit every other game.

Answer 2

I think both rules have their merit and it is fine to watch DH as long as the 9th hitter can still hit. There are more offensive actions with DH rules but more strategic moves without DH. I think it is all depends on what you like.



I watch DH baseball all my life and I think it is fine as long as the managers create a line-up that make sense. However, if pitchers can do whatever they can and should do in the hitter’s box, the game can be fun too. It is good to have both system in MLB to provide more variation.

Answer 3

"Managers in a non-designated hitter world choose their teams weighing both the offensive and defensive talents of each player."



Really? Managers consider the batting abilities of their potential pitchers? Horserot. Whether they can get batters out is all that matters; what they can do at the plate, even just laying down sac bunts, doesn't even rate secondarily; tertiarily maybe. Or find a supporting quote from any no-DH manager which espouses this expressed view, that he has a meaningful level of interest in how well his pitchers hit.



You still have the NL. For now....

Answer 4

For purity reasons, yeah. For entertainment reasons, no.



Baseball has always trended towards specialization. From position players pitching, to having players dedicated to only one side, to the advent of the DH, to the more modern introduction of closers, to the lefty specialists who pitch to one batter today, baseball players are doing less individually.



Also, pitchers just don't fit into today's offensive style. In 1972 (last year before the DH), pitchers had an OPS of .368, and the league average for non-pitchers was .664. Last year, pitcher's had a lower OPS of .350, and the league average was a significantly higher .751.



Pitchers accounted to 5.9% of the league's strikeouts, 0.5% of the HR, and 41% of sacrifice hits in 3.2% of the plate appearances (they did contribute an odd amount of "reached on error"s though, 7.8%). In general, they're pretty boring to watch hit. Granted, this makes players like Carlos Zambrano and Micah Owing all the more fascinating, but they're the exception in this case.



I will admit that I like the strategy they bring to the game, double-switches, needing a deeper bench so you can have better pinch-hitters, etc.



Football players used to play both sides of the ball. Heck the guy that has the outstanding college kicker award named after him was a Hall of Fame lineman (Lou Groza). Everything in sports is becoming specialized. Also, like I pointed out, pitchers take up 3.2% of plate appearances right now. They are responsible for 1 out of 15 PAs in the NL. They don't make that much of a difference.



I'll admit that I have been raised watching the AL and was born almost twenty years after the DH was brought into baseball. This means I have been watching the most explosive offenses in history since I started watching baseball. I'm obviously biased on this (even though I prefer pitcher's duels to tons of offense).

Answer 5

I like the AL. I believe that you like the NL. the pitchers are tired of pitching but they have to pick up the bat, go over there and get an out. DH can hit a lot of HRs. First they help the pitchers to avoid batting. Second they could add to the lead and give the pitchers a win. It is teamwork. If there is no DH then bye bye Matsui, Guerrero, Ortiz...

Answer 6

Yes because it makes for a different game. Either let pitchers hit (or be substituted for a pinch hitter) in both leagues, or have a DH in both leagues. Simple as that.



As much as I enjoyed watching Pedro Martinez as a Red Sox he would not have gone after hitters as agressively if he knew he'd come up within an inning or two of doing so.

Answer 7

if i had my way, both leagues would have a DH. seriously, if i have to watch another NL game where a rally is completely obliterated by a pitcher wiffing with men on 3rd and 2nd and 2 outs, i'm gonna flip out. its not even fair, the offense has practically no chance to produce in that scenario.

don't get me wrong, i like pitchers duels (i'm a pitcher myself), i think the old days are cool when guys used to dominate on the mound and go 300 innings in a season, but this is one aspect i can definitely live without.

there's still strategy in management of pitchers in the AL, and defensive replacements and the like, and i'd rather watch the action on the field that watch Tony LaRussa ponder about when to make that pivotal doubleswitch.

whats wrong with prolonging careers? why shouldn't a guy that's a little older but still can blast it be able to be used for more than 1 at bat a game? you think Ken Griffey Jr or Jim Thome would still be playing if we had just NL rules? doubt it.

Answer 8

"no longer have to pick up a bat?". What's up? You act like this went into effect yesterday. It's been that way forever and the Player's Union will NEVER allow the DH to be eliminated. It is more about fat contracts to washed up everyday players than about offense and whether or not a pitcher can hit. Money rules.

Answer 9

Hold up, they *no longer* have to pick up a bat??? You make it sound as though the adoption of the DH has just happened at the Winter meetings. It's been around for approximately 30 years now!!!



I guess I could suggest that you only watch National League games so that you don't have to look at such pampered players

Answer 10

I like the DH and that is part of the reason I don't watch much NL baseball, I hate seeing the pitcher trying to hit.

Answer 11

NO! I think its sad that fans have to watch pitchers be an automatic out 90% of the time in the NL...what a waste...



The pitchers only hit every fifth day and only play defense every fifth day...clearly those are not the skills that they are paid for...they are paid to pitch...pretending that fans shouldnt be annoyed when over 10% of the batters they will see during a NL game are automatic outs is ridiculous. I want to see the BEST professional athletes use their skills in a game. Using a pitcher to hit is like you or I going to bat four times a game...no one would pay to watch us get automatic outs...

Answer 12

I have no interest in watching pitchers try to hit. Of course there's the occasional guy who can actually do it and you wonder what he'd be able to do if he got 600 plate appearances, but these guys are rare and cannot be a real hitter when they only get a couple at-bats every five days.

Answer 13

This guy has no clue! he keeps asking questions like he just started watching baseball this season! The pitchers job is to pitch, who really wants to see them bat? with the DH you get another good bat in your lineup. And weither your a pitcher, outfielder. any thing all MLB player get pampered! it comes with the "worked real hard to get here" concept

Answer 14

I agree. For the sake of baseball purity, the Dh is awful. However, it does help the offense, which keeps people filling the seats. After all, what would the Red Soxs do if they had to play David Ortiz at first. I agree with you completely by the way.

Answer 15

I agree.



However, to be fair to teams (if they ever get rid of the DH), I say give the AL 3 years and then change the rule so they know from the start.

Answer 16

I love the DH. Watching a bunch of clowns who not only can't hit, but most can't even lay down a decent sacrifice bunt, isn't my idea of baseball. I have dreams of watching a 60-year-old Ted Williams line a shot off the right field fence.



"Real" baseball? Where have you been? Pitchers go five or six innings, ERAs over 4.00 considered good, is not "real" baseball.

Answer 17

It's 2010, not 1873.



Welcome to modern baseball. I like baseball where hitters actually can hit and not just wave at the ball like pitchers do.



Thank God for the DH!

Answer 18

I like the DH. It gives AL players and teams more flexablity

Answer 19

I think it is absolute BS! Whatever happen to "team sports"?

Answer 20

No, that's life in the big city...