Last week, a writer at The Atlantic, Derek Thompson, wrote about “The Simple Technology That Accidentally Ruined Baseball.” The main gist of the piece, not to skim down Thompson’s post into just one sentence, is that PITCHf/x technology and the Zone Evaluation system that provides incentives for umpires to make correct calls has led to the bottom portion of the zone opening up and being called a strike more frequently than in the past.
With the bottom of the zone opening up, pitchers have seen themselves have some of the best aggregate performances they have had in decades. Offense is trending down almost every single year and there are a few solutions to fix the problem. And while some may not consider it a “problem,” as Thompson points out, national games are seeing their ratings drop rather rapidly. Sure, it could be a coincidence, but it could also be a main reason the audience is becoming more select. One simple comparison is that the NFL is doing better than it ever has, and the one thing they continue to create more of is opportunities for the offense to succeed by rule changes and the enforcement of rules on the defensive side of the ball becoming more stringent.
One easy fix is to change the strike zone. I am not sure if this is the preferred option, though I do recommend baseball makes the changes so that the pitcher advantage that has evolved over the past few years becomes more and more slight.
A bigger move, in my opinion, is to add the designated hitter to the National League. There have long been many who vehemently oppose the designated hitter in the National League, as they feel it is the more “pure” version of baseball. However, teams have upped their technology just as the league has. They have upped their studies and their front offices and they have concluded that bunting as frequently as teams did pre-Moneyball age was disadvantageous for scoring runs. Sure, it makes sense to do with the pitchers, but that is only because they are so bad at the plate. If there were another hitter, it would provide more opportunities for certified sluggers to play every single day and bring the long ball back into the game.
This year, the American League has a .254/.317/.392 line with 1,958 home runs and a 99 wRC+. The National League is hitting just .249/.312/.384 with 1,835 home runs and a 93 wRC+. American League designated hitters are batting .249/.320/.424 with a 108 wRC+. It is reasonable to think that the two leagues would be extremely comparable offensively were the National League to adopt the designated hitter. Of course, there are other factors to include in total offense, such as the parks teams play in, the money each has to spend, and the quality of pitching staffs, but those are all pretty well balanced.
The league has made changes, purposefully or not, since the steroid era that are diminishing offense while it is clear that fans – as a whole – want to see more runs and more long balls. Many say they love “small ball” and like the “strategy” that the National League managers have to employ, but the casual fans have spoken, and less offense is not what people are tuning in for.
Even from a conceptual standpoint, in no other sport does one league act a certain way and the other league act an entirely different way. Not in basketball, football, hockey, or any other sport does a position exist for half the teams that does not exist for the other half. It simply does not make sense that one league has a designated hitter while the other has pitchers hit.
Which brings me to the final point: watching pitchers flail at pitches is simply flat out boring. Sure it is kind of fun when a pitcher drives in a run or if Madison Bumgarner knocks one over the fence, but for the majority of starting pitchers, you can essentially change the channel as they come up. As a whole, pitchers have a .119/.151/.147 line with a -21 wRC+. For comparison, the worst major league regular by wRC+ is Zack Cozart, who has a 58 wRC+ backed by a .226/.273/.304 line. Reds fans abhor having to watch Cozart every single day, while each and every National League team is forced to watch even worse plate appearances every single day, yet accept doing so because it puts more on the plate of the manager, whom almost every team’s fans complain about every single day regardless. I can assure you that there is enough strategy involved in baseball in the American League. Bullpen decisions, pinch hitters, lineup alterations, defensive substitutes, who to use as the designated hitter on which days to keep hitters fresh, as well as stolen bases and hit and runs are just a few things managers from both leagues have to handle.
Plus, what type of strategy does having the pitcher in the lineup invoke? They pinch hit the guys on their roster in almost a set order every single day depending on the handedness of the pitcher and they sometimes double switch out their pitchers depending on what spot the lineup is. That along with calling for bunts any time a position player is on base does not sound like some in depth strategy that the league would miss too frequently, at least it does not to me.
The league has a new commissioner next year, and when I was brainstorming this post with our editor Joe Lucia we both agreed – adding the designated hitter to the National League needs to be part of Rob Manfred’s tenure. It will bring offense back, at least a bit. It will keep hitters healthier by giving them the ability to play through certain injuries or to simply avoid getting injured with monitored work load, and it would all-in-all make the league more fun. It is time for the National League to add the designated hitter and do away with pitchers stepping up to the plate.
