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Effects on the DH on baseball strategy?
As a Giants fan, I primarily watch NL play. I saw an article yesterday about the idea of adding the DH to the National League, and it's really gotten me thinking about how the DH affects the game.
I've never seen any statistics on how the AL uses the bench and bullpen vs the NL, but it just seems like there is less strategy involved in the AL. Because pitchers don't hit, they don't impact the line-up, meaning you don't have to factor the pitcher coming to bat into when you pull him from the game.
Also, because you're not using double switches, it would seem like bench players would get less play in the AL.
6 Answers
- WilliamLv 65 years ago
There are also fewer bench players in the AL because 1 is always in the lineup as a DH, so that kind of evens out the playing time between AL and NL. I'll put a few examples of Yankees 4th outfielder Chris Young and backup catcher John Ryan Murphy.
Young: 140 games, 356 plate appearances
Murphy: 67 games, 172 plate appearances
The numbers for Young are kind of off because for part of the season he was in a platoon in right field.
- tomjc43Lv 75 years ago
In spite of what the so called genii of baseball say there is no more strategy in playing without the DH than playing with the DH.
Here is the mindset going through the head of the NL manager as he walks to the mound to change his pitcher. "Which player who isn't good enough to be one of my starters do I bring into the game and taking one of my top 8 players out of the game because this pitcher can't hit".
Pitchers batting in baseball is as out of date as a quarterback playing defence.
- 5 years ago
When a DH is used you are replacing an .090 hitter with a .270 one.
You also do not risk injury or fatigue to your pitchers as he is not batting or running the bases.
You also possibly prevent the pitcher from making a fool of himself at the plate
- 5 years ago
The DH shifts the manager's focus from farting around with his bench to farting around with his bullpen.
Despite the double-switch being upheld as the gold standard in managerial tactics, I have yet to see one instance cited as game-changing and memorable. It is a push-button move that can be fully understood after ten, fifteen seconds of study.
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