The DH Debate

Despite approaching its three year anniversary (April 23), Caught Looking has never offered its opinion on Major League Baseball's designated hitter. While the existence of the DH in the American League is debated each season during Interleague Play, the All Star Game and the World Series, this year should be particularly heated because it marks the 40th anniversary of the rule change. In honor of the occasion, ESPN recently did a series of pieces on the DH, from Tim Kurkjian's mindless interviewing of a random array of Major Leaguers to Christina Karl's uninspired opinion piece. Now, it's time for me to weigh in - after all, everybody else is doing it!

First, let's set the stage here: The DH debate is one of the most tightly argued in all of sports. While ESPN's SportsNation polls are in no means scientific, they do give us a decent understanding of how the general sports populace feels about a given issue. The recent DH poll, which as of this writing had a meaningful 24,333 responses, say 30% of people say they wanted the DH to remain an AL-only rule, 37% of people say they want the DH abolished altogether, and the remaining 33% say they'd want the DH adopted in the NL, too. Put simply, about a third of people want more DHing, a third want less, and a third want the same amount - not exactly the sort of definitive sentiment you want while assessing a sport-altering potential rule change. But while the total population is on the fence about the DH, it seems like virtually no individual person is split - everyone, myself included, has a strong opinion on the issue.

As a lifelong fan of the National League, it probably won't surprise you to hear that I'm a big anti-DH guy. In addition to being a Braves fan, I also consider myself a student of the game who valued baseball for its strategy - strategy that, in my opinion, is greatly dumbed-down in American League games. I like how Nationals manager Davey Johnson (who has managed in both leagues) put it in the Kurkjian article; talking about NL baseball, Johnson said "when the pitcher is in there, things are on an even keel. There is more strategy in the game; that's a part of baseball. There is more little ball, there are tougher decisions on pitching strategy. It involves your bench more." My favorite part of any NL game is the situation Ned Yost mentions in his quote - that moment when "you have two outs, a man on second, down by a run in the sixth inning, with your pitcher at the plate. Do you hit for him or not?" These are the moments that can make-or-break an MLB 2K13 game, let alone a MLB contest with playoff implications.

I understand that the DH provides a job for defensively-challenged, big-bat types and for aging stars who can no longer play the field. But is it the American League's job to institute a rule change that creates a role for guys that can't play the sport the way it was originally meant to be played? What's more, the majority of teams use the DH slot to rotate position players out of the field, giving them a de facto day off without removing their bat from the lineup. Come World Series time, this could theoretically be a significant advantage for a well-rested AL team over a bruised and battered NL one. As a baseball purist, I cast my SportsNation vote to get rid of the DH altogether. After 40 years of the DH debate, though, I can't say that I can add anything to the conversation that you haven't already heard before.

Come Interleague Play, this man will likely be Atlanta's starting DH.