One positive MLB development is that the pitcher will not be hitting anymore
On Thursday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, who does not have a very good reputation, announced that the designated hitter will be implemented in the National League starting this season. It is very up in the air when the 2022 season will begin.
This is one positive decision that Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball have made in the last few years. This decision needed to happen for many years and it makes sense that it finally did since too many pitchers get injured while hitting and running the bases and most of the pitchers who go to the plate are an automatic out who look foolish when they try to hit.
The designated hitter was first implemented in the American League 48 years ago. Ron Blomberg, who played seven of his eight MLB seasons with the Yankees, was the first Major Leaguer do bat in a regular season game. On April 6, 1973, at Fenway Park, he was walked by Luis Tiant with the bases loaded and that bat from the game between the Yankees and Red Sox is in the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
With Thursday’s news that MLB is implementing the universal designated hitter, Brandon Woodruff is now the last pitcher to hit a home run in a postseason game. He achieved this feat in the 2018 NLCS Game One against future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw. Woodruff has a 3.23 ERA in five seasons with the Brewers and he had a .191 average with a homer and seven RBI in 115 MLB at-bats.
Most of them were very good hitters in high school but they do not practice hitting, which means it did not make sense to have them hit in a Major League Baseball game. It was exciting seeing the pitchers come to the plate who could hold their own and be competitive like Micah Owings (.283 average in 205 at-bats with nine homers), Dontrelle Willis (.244 average in 389 at-bats with nine homers), Carlos Zambrano (.238 average in 693 at-bats), Zack Greinke (.225 average in 521 at-bats with nine homers) and Madison Bumgarner (19 homers and 65 RBI in 633 career at-bats, which is about one full season’s worth), but it was extremely rare for a pitcher not to be an automatic out at the plate.
Baseball is trying to have more offense in the game, so adding another player to the lineup who is not concentrating on pitching and is paid to be a hitter will make the game more exciting overall.
The elimination of pitchers hitting will also mean that we will not see them wearing jackets on the bases anymore or comically or successfully trying to sacrifice bunt. One of the best highlights of a pitcher at the plate of all-time was when Bartolo Colon shocked everyone and hit a homer at the picturesque Petco Park in San Diego. He only had 299 at-bats in his 21-season career since he pitched in the American League for the majority of those season, but in those 299 at-bats he only had a .084 average, which made that homer all the more exciting, since it was so unexpected, but the majority of his other at-bats were not competitive.
He had 166 strikeouts in his 299 at-bats and only had four extra base hits. In 62 at-bats with the Mets in 2014 he only had two hits (one double). The fans at Petco Park were very lucky to see a Colon homer that day since it was the only one of his career and it came when he was 43 years old.
The announcement from Manfred about the universal DH came as MLB and the MLB Players’ Union are trying to negotiate many issues during their ongoing lockout that is taking a long time for the two sides to agree. In addition to universal DH, the baseball commissioner also announced that a draft lottery will be implemented similar to the one in the NBA to try to get teams not to tank.
This universal DH is not absolutely official since there has not been an agreement with the players union, but it was always expected that this would be instituted in the new collective bargaining agreement, which expired after last season.
This is definitely a good decision since more and more pitchers have been getting injured in the last few years and pitchers doing not needed extra running and swinging has made injuries more likely. Mets starting pitcher Taijuan Walker have said that the side-tightness and discomfort in his non-throwing shoulder was the result of hitting.
MLB has also agreed to eliminate draft-pick compensation for signing free agents who decline qualifying offers in addition to the universal DH and the new draft lottery. In the now expired CBA, teams would receive a first round draft pick when their free agent player, who was extended a one-year qualifying offer, went to another team. Qualifying offers are still expected to remain intact, but now teams will not lose a draft pick.
The players came out of Saturday’s meeting unimpressed with what the league presented and the two sides are still unfortunately far apart. MLB presented a 130-page proposal to the union that covered aspects big and small.
Some highlights from MLB’s proposal include a slight increase in minimum salary (proposed bumping salary for third year players from $700,000 to $725,000), a pre-arbitration bonus pool (they increased its offer from $10 million to $15 million while offering a six-person panel to develop an agreeable WAR statistic to allocate the funds for the top 30 players in WAR), service time manipulation (the league increased incentive to keep best prospects in the majors), roster continuity (this would limit times a player can be sent to the minors to five times) and league is offering reinstating a policy where teams can draft a player who might not be ready for professional baseball and send him to junior college for a season.
Since the two sides were still not close in Saturday, it seems highly unlikely that the regular season will start on time. Pitchers and catchers were supposed to report to today, but that is not happening. However, minor league players will still be having spring training.
