The Official Baseball Blog of @BaseballBo

Friday 30 March 2012

Should the DH rule take a walk?




The Designated Hitter (DH) rule has been embraced in baseball leagues worldwide. Why would the MLB ever put something like this in place? Money. The owners of teams wanted the DH slot because it would make the scores in baseball games higher in turn making the teams more money. Sometimes I like watching players such as David Ortiz or Billy Butler at the plate hitting homers but othertimes I think that even if your good at swinging the bat, it shouldn't excuse you from playing defense.

Lets face it. Designated Hitters aren't put on the team for their defensive skills. They're put on the team because they can swing the bat. This seems crazy at times, in my opinion. I think that the 9 players out there playing defense should be the 9 players at the plate (unless there is a pinch hitter situation). Playing defense on the field should earn you the right of playing offense at the plate. Having a DH is like having a point guard in basketball who is amazing on the offense but lacks on the defense and you sub him in only when your team has possesion of the ball. No. It doen't work like that. To play a sport you have to be able to play both the defensive side and the offesnive side of the game.

The trouble is that I, and many other fans, would much rather see David Ortiz at the plate than Tim Licecum. We are all suckers for offense and runs. A lot of us like those high scoring games with lots of homeruns, so does this make the DH rule a better option?

The DH rule is a very complicated subject that should definatley be looked into by the MLB in the near future. At the moment, when there is inter-league play, the home team uses their leagues rules whether it be the AL or NL rules. An idea that the MLB could look into is they could switch that around so AL cities get to see there pitcher hit live and NL cities getto see the DH rule live. Lets say the Pittsburgh Pirates were playing the New York Yankees at Yankees Stadium, then the pitchers would have to hit. If the Yankees played in Pittsburgh, they'd use the DH rule. It's just an interesting idea that I've talked over with a few fans. I think we as baseball fans have to figure out if we want to see more runs or see the players who are out there playing defense, play offense.

Please leave comments with your opinions, I'd love to hear them.