Dh in Baseball
Joey Covolo
Editorial
4/5/13
The adversity the DH is causing One lineup is jam-packed with over-powerful hitters, plays for the long ball, and utilizes a designated hitter. While the other side’s lineup is filled with quicker and smaller players, play small ball, and use the pitcher to hit. The designated hitter, or DH, greatly changes our game of baseball today. This season marks the fortieth year the American League, or AL, has used the designated hitter in Major League Baseball. Nonetheless, the pitcher still hits in the National League, or NL. The enormous change has affected many aspects of the game we know today, so much so, that it has led to major controversy around the league. The unnecessary rule has distorted the game by significantly changing how the sport is played with pitchers hitting. Since the game first adopted the rule back in 1973, many people were for the rule, claiming the DH let players have a longer career by moving them to DH when they cannot play in the field anymore. However, this ruling goes against the original rules of baseball. It is essentially changing the game. With the DH, pitchers no longer have to hit. Baseball was created where the pitcher is assumed to hit as well. With two leagues using two different rules, statistics, which are most important to baseball fans, become skewed. Players who hit in the American League tend to have better hitting stats as opposed to the National League. Since 1973, the AL has had a higher batting average than the NL according to Baseball Press, which means they are getting more hits than the NL. As well as pitchers in the NL, have better stats than the pitchers in the AL because they do not have to face the DH. In 2012, pitchers in the NL had an average earned-run average of 3.94, while the AL’s pitchers averaged 4.08 according to Baseball-Reference. This is a huge difference per game. This means more runs are scored per-game in the AL than the NL because of the DH. With the many
Editorial
4/5/13
The adversity the DH is causing One lineup is jam-packed with over-powerful hitters, plays for the long ball, and utilizes a designated hitter. While the other side’s lineup is filled with quicker and smaller players, play small ball, and use the pitcher to hit. The designated hitter, or DH, greatly changes our game of baseball today. This season marks the fortieth year the American League, or AL, has used the designated hitter in Major League Baseball. Nonetheless, the pitcher still hits in the National League, or NL. The enormous change has affected many aspects of the game we know today, so much so, that it has led to major controversy around the league. The unnecessary rule has distorted the game by significantly changing how the sport is played with pitchers hitting. Since the game first adopted the rule back in 1973, many people were for the rule, claiming the DH let players have a longer career by moving them to DH when they cannot play in the field anymore. However, this ruling goes against the original rules of baseball. It is essentially changing the game. With the DH, pitchers no longer have to hit. Baseball was created where the pitcher is assumed to hit as well. With two leagues using two different rules, statistics, which are most important to baseball fans, become skewed. Players who hit in the American League tend to have better hitting stats as opposed to the National League. Since 1973, the AL has had a higher batting average than the NL according to Baseball Press, which means they are getting more hits than the NL. As well as pitchers in the NL, have better stats than the pitchers in the AL because they do not have to face the DH. In 2012, pitchers in the NL had an average earned-run average of 3.94, while the AL’s pitchers averaged 4.08 according to Baseball-Reference. This is a huge difference per game. This means more runs are scored per-game in the AL than the NL because of the DH. With the many