But while no evidence exists to suggest MLB and its players’ union would rethink this year’s protocols in any major way in the weeks before the season starts, one of the ideas permeating camps in Florida and Arizona is the idea that maybe, at the last second, everyone will agree to restore the designated hitter to the NL after all.
“Because of how things went last year, I think we understand that rules could change at the last second. So I don’t know if it’s a hope; it’s just we don’t know,” Milwaukee Brewers Manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s really a situation where we don’t know. Because they changed rules, changed playoff situations late, it certainly could happen again. I think that’s how you have to look at it.”
But people familiar with the plans on both the MLB and union sides said a last-minute change is unlikely. Teams have already built their rosters under current rules. And nothing has happened at spring training that would spur the reopening of agreed-to protocols.
And while the union argued this offseason that a universal designated hitter should be included in health and safety protocols, as it was in 2020, because it protects the safety of NL pitchers, MLB disagreed. The players ultimately agreed to protocols without it as part of a push to start the season on time. Instead, a universal DH seems likely to be a major sticking point when the sides negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement after the season.
The players’ union supports a universal DH for a variety of reasons, one of which is the addition of one more high-salary spot on 15 more rosters. Another is the danger hitting poses to NL pitchers who usually do not contribute much offensively and have now built up a year of rust after being exempt from those duties in 2020.
“That’s very real,” San Diego Padres Manager Jayce Tingler said early in camp. “Some of the pitchers that had been in the American League, but even in the National League, they haven’t hit in two years. That’s definitely a concern.”
But after a year of getting to use the designated hitter and constructing their rosters accordingly, NL teams suddenly find themselves without it again, a shift that illuminates just how much that difference affects the way teams in both leagues — teams that ultimately compete for the same World Series title — have to operate.
For example, the Brewers made their signing of Jackie Bradley Jr. official Monday, giving them three Gold Glove outfielders on a roster already constructed as much around saving runs as it is around scoring them.
The move adds to Milwaukee’s depth and versatility, qualities the Brewers hope will help lift them in the relatively weak NL Central. But it also creates an interesting playing-time conundrum. If Bradley features in an outfield with fellow Gold Glovers Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich, that pushes Avisaíl García — one of the more reliable offensive producers on the roster — out of a lineup spot.
On Monday afternoon, meanwhile, the Brewers played a spring training game against the Los Angeles Angels, an AL team built to use the DH in a variety of ways. On Monday, two-way standout Shohei Ohtani filled that role, keeping his bat in the lineup while limiting his risk for injury on defense between starts on the mound. At other times, future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols, whose mobility has dropped in recent years, can hit without creating any defensive liability at first base.
AL teams can carry similarly limited players without much penalty. The New York Yankees need not worry about having a lineup spot for Giancarlo Stanton. The Boston Red Sox can limit the time J.D. Martinez spends navigating the Fenway Park outfield. The Minnesota Twins can make sure 40-year-old Nelson Cruz stays off his feet.
In explaining his team’s thinking in acquiring Bradley, Brewers President of Baseball Operations David Stearns explained that, while Milwaukee may now have more quality outfielders than it does spots for them, his team thinks of the outfield more in terms of total at-bats. He and his staff estimate that outfielders will account for something along the lines of 2,100 plate appearances over the course of the 162-game season.
“That’s a lot of playing time. That’s a lot of plate appearances. We want as good of players as possible to consume all of those,” Stearns said. “To have four really, really good players consuming those 2,100 plate appearances, that puts us in a really good spot.”
Using Stearns’s approach, and assuming most starting pitchers hit eighth or ninth and those spots get two or three plate appearances before managers go to a pinch hitter, each NL team is losing about 350 plate appearances that could go to a professional hitter by having its pitchers hit each season.
Put another way, AL teams that tend to hit their designated hitter in the middle of the order probably get at least 350 more quality plate appearances out of their rosters per season.
Asked whether he favors the return of the designated hitter, Counsell was unequivocal: “For our roster, yes.
“Every team looks at it that way,” he added. “We certainly have a player who best fits in that spot, is how we see it. Anytime you have another offensive spot — after using the DH last year, you do see how it frees up at-bats around the field.”
The Washington Nationals’ lineup would look more formidable with both Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Bell in it every day than with just one or the other. The New York Mets could use the extra spot to ensure everyone in their crowded outfield and first base picture gets plenty of at-bats. The St. Louis Cardinals would have a natural spot for Matt Carpenter now that Nolan Arenado is taking the bulk of the time at third base. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres could add one more of their many offensive options to the lineup each day.
Still, even as NL teams will be allocating at-bats without the DH this season, many of them seem to be operating under the assumption that they will have one next season and beyond.
When the Atlanta Braves signed Marcell Ozuna for five years last month, for example, they committed to a longer deal than other teams were willing to do, seemingly banking that they would be able to use him in a less defensively taxing spot (as a designated hitter) in the later years of his contract.
For now, players who might naturally slide into that DH spot will probably have to find other ways into the lineup.
“Quite frankly, I have zero control over it, just like everyone else does,” Milwaukee’s Daniel Vogelbach, who hit 30 home runs as the Seattle Mariners’ primary designated hitter in 2019, told reporters this spring. “My goal every day is to get better at first base, prove that I can play first base and do what I can to help this team win.”