Should the National League adopt the DH?

On April 25, the St. Louis Cardinals ace pitcher and perennial Cy Young contender Adam Wainwright suffered a torn left achilles.  Wainwright was running out of the batter’s box after hitting a pop up.  A couple steps in and he stopped, obviously injured. Wainwright had to be helped walk off the field by his manager and the team trainer.  He had surgery on the 30^th to repair the achilles and will miss the rest of the 2015 season.

The injury to Wainwright has kindled the evergoing debate of whether the National League should adopt the designated hitter rule, where a certain player will bat in place of the pitcher.  Currently only the American League uses the DH.  This is one of the hottest debates in baseball, with people entrenched on either side.  Max Scherzer, a pitcher for the Washington Nationals, injured his thumb batting on April 23, and missed his next start as a result.  Scherzer says that he is “not opposed” to the National League adopting the DH.  According the Scherzer, people “don't want to see me hit. No one wants to see a pitcher hit. No one pays money for that.”  Scherzer spent the previous 5 seasons playing for the American League Detroit Tigers who use a DH, so he has experience in both settings. 

On the other hand, there are players such as the San Francisco Giants’ Madison Bumgarner.  Bumgarner offered this view of Wainwright’s injury and the DH debate: “"What if he got hurt pitching? Should we say we can't pitch anymore?...I hate what happened to him. He works his butt off out there. But I don't think it was because he was hitting. What if he gets hurt getting out of his truck? You tell him not to drive anymore?” Bumgarner continued his thoughts with, “"It's a beautiful game to me the way it is…That's obviously the way baseball started and I'm a traditional guy. I'm not much for change. I know people argue both sides, but for me, from what I see, it's a more challenging game. It's more challenging for managers. There's so much more that goes into it in the National League than, 'let 'em pitch until they can't get outs anymore.” Last year Bumgarner hit .258 with 4 homeruns and 15 RBIs, and has hit 6 total homeruns in his career.

In my opinion, I would have to side with Bumgarner in this debate.  This is the way baseball has always been played.  Since the National League was founded in 1876, the pitcher has always batted for himself.  It was not until 1973, almost 100 years later, that the American League officially adopted the DH rule.  Plus Bumgarner presents a valid point that Wainwright could have injured himself some other way, such as pitching, working out or just by accident.  One freak injury should not merit a drastic rule change. For the record, Wainwright agrees with this sentiment, saying, “"It was a fluke thing and baseball needs to stay exactly where it is”.

However, I am a realist.  And I do think unfortunately that the National League will move to adopt the DH.  Baseball is the only sport which has different rules for different leagues.  And there is no way the AL will give up the DH. They make way too much money from players simply being a DH.  Second, while I don’t think one freak injury should spur a rule change, there is precedent for this.  Giants catcher Buster Posey was injured in 2011 after a collision at home plate, which spurred the new rule about catcher’s blocking home plate.  Finally, as I mentioned in a previous blog, run scoring in baseball has been down the past few years.  Having another solid hitter in place of a pitcher would easily help to produce more runs.

We will see what comes of this injury.  I really would not like to see the DH come to the National League, but I do think it is inevitable now.  What do you think? Should the National League adopt the designated hitter rule?  Do you think they will? Let me know!