The National League Should Adopt The Designated Hitter Rule

The National League Should Adopt the Designated Hitter Rule

Major League Baseball is a broken business, and will be one until both the American League and the National League decide that it would be a good idea to play by the same rules. Since the National League (NL) has refused to follow the Designated Hitter Rule, a rule that the American League (AL) has played by since 1973, there is inequality between the two leagues. The Designated Hitter Rule states that “A hitter may be designated to bat for the starting pitcher and all subsequent pitchers in any game without otherwise affecting the status of the pitcher(s) in the game” (“Official Rules - MLB.com”). In summary, the designated hitter (DH) hits for the pitcher and doesn’t play in the

The National League should implement the Designated Hitter Rule because it would reduce player injuries, increase scoring, and alleviate the inequality between the NL and AL.

Players contracts have skyrocketed in recent years to as much as 30 million dollars per year, consequently increasing their value to their team and making it more important for them to stay healthy. The AL has consistently had fewer injuries than the NL the past 4 years, which can be partially credited for their use of the DH. Since 2012, the AL has sent an average of 235 players to the disabled list (DL) every year, while the NL has sent an average of 261.5 players to the DL (Zimmerman). One advantage that the DH provides is the ability to give players enough rest, which helps prevent injuries. Teams in the AL can rotate players who normally play the field into the DH spot to help keep them fresh and at the top of their game, without having to take them out of the game entirely. Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is a statistic that uses a player’s performance compared to league average and relates it to the number of wins that they provided their team, with 0

Positional hitting data provides good insight to the difference in hitting between a pitcher and a DH. In 2015, NL pitchers hit 0.132, while AL DH's hit 0.264 (“Page”). In terms of WAR, NL pitchers were worth -1.2 WAR in 2015, and AL DH’s were worth 21.5 WAR (“Page”). This data shows that using a DH improves offense, which is important because low-scoring games make baseball boring. The impact of the DH on AL offense has been felt ever since the DH was introduced in 1973. Before the DH was used, the NL had been the higher scoring league most years; from 1950 to 1972 the NL had a higher RPG than the AL for 14 of the 23 years. However, in 1973, the AL scored an average of 4.28 runs per game (RPG), compared to the 3.47 that it had scored the previous year. Since then, the AL has never scored less than 4 RPG, and has had a higher RPG than the NL every year except for 1974 when the AL was still adjusting to the DH (Baseball). As fast-paced sports like basketball and lacrosse become popular across america, it’s important for the MLB to make baseball exciting, and increasing offense the best way to do that. If the NL were to implement the DH rule, then they could expect to have higher scoring, more exciting