The DH - Where I get NL fans mad at me again

National League fans are adamant, and I get it. We baseball people do not like people messing with our game. Even though replay worked great (IMHO) this past year, many still hate it because it takes away the "charm" of human error. But that human error cost teams World Series titles in the past. NL fans, pitchers batting has got to go. It doesn't cost games, but it sure costs enjoyment.

Let's break this down a bit into numbers. NL pitchers when batting as a group did not have as high an OPS as what is borderline acceptable as an on-base percentage. The group OPS of all NL pitchers last season was .312. OPS combines on-base percentage with slugging percentage. This is a terrible number.

How terrible? The league as a whole had an average OPS of .694. Therefore, collectively, pitchers' offense was 45% as good as league batters as a whole. NL pitchers when batting struck out 36.4% of their plate appearances. Pitchers walked only 3% of the time. And here is the part that gets me the most: Pitchers sacrificed bunted (successfully) 10.2% of their plate appearances.

Let's put some of this in perspective. NL pitchers came to the plate 5,141 times last year. They actually reached base a grand total of 722 times. That works out to an on-base percentage of .140. Let me clarify that point briefly. NL pitchers' official on-base percentage was .156. Why am I getting a different number? Sacrifice bunts.

An OBP and an OPS do not penalize a player for successful sacrifice bunts (or for sac flies for that matter). I have never agreed with this statistical anomaly. Whether a sacrifice is successful or not, the batter made an out. Yes, a runner got to second or third, but an out was still recorded.

Those numbers are bad enough. But there are other consequences. Pitchers having to bat means a greater reliance on pinch hitters. National League pinch hitters put up this unlovely triple slash line in 2014: .210/ .286/.319. That .605 OPS is second to only pitchers in futility among "positions." Their help only brought up the ninth spot in the lineup up to a grand total of a .444 OPS. Pinch hitters struck out 27% of the time. Heck, the pitcher could have done that!

It doesn't stop there.  The eighth place batter in a National League lineup becomes a moot point. The National League had a combined .625 OPS from the eighth spot in the batting order. Compare that with the American League which had a .680 OPS from their eighth position in the batting order.

Oh, and get this: That OPS is deceptive too. With the pitchers batting ninth, the eighth place batter often gets intentionally walked even if it is a weak hitter. The eighth place batters had fifty more intentional walks than any other lineup position, even the big boys in the third spot.

We are not really talking apples to apples here, but the National League scored 561 runs less than the American League in 2014.

If the commissioner is interested in improving offense and is concerned about the current run scoring climate, making the DH universal is a good place to start and is much better than outlawing shifts.

The long-term trends of pitcher batting have shown a gradual decline. Sacrifice bunts are up four percentage points from where they were in the early 1960s. OPS figures have stayed fairly static since 1961, but again, with sacrifice bunts trending up, the OPS is deceptive. The strikeout rate has always been high, but has spiked the last two seasons. The chart below starts with the 1961 season on the left and tracks the percentages to the present as you move right.

This decline makes a lot of sense really. In the old days, a pitcher would bat consistently through high school, college and the minor leagues. Today, most colleges use the DH and if a pitcher is drafted by an American League team, then the pitcher never hits. If that same pitcher gets traded to a National League organization, suddenly he has to hit and it might have been a few years since high school.

Plus, pitchers are much more valued (read "babied") than in the past. Most pitchers are encouraged to protect themselves when batting and not to run at full strength.

The weekly reality of interleague games also puts new wrinkles into the entire argument. National League teams are not constructed to have an offensive player available as the DH and suffers in AL parks. And if you think NL pitchers are terrible at batting, they are all Mike Trout compared to AL pitchers who have to hit in NL parks.

American League pitchers put together this triple slash line when batting last year: .090/.110/.109. In 154 such games, AL pitchers got on base a grand total of 35 times. It is a joke and a travesty to baseball. Making AL pitchers hit is like asking an NFL punter to play one game a year at offensive tackle. AL pitchers have a strikeout rate of over 40% when batting. Pathetic.

If you make the DH the norm for all interleague games, you are punishing NL teams that do not plan roster spots for DH types. So that doesn't make for an easy solution.

I know there is a lot of passion in this area of conversation. I'm sure two of my friends who cover the St. Louis Cardinals are glaring at me as they read this. But times have changed. Tickets cost too much to have to watch a woefully skilled batter being sent up to the plate. Times have also changed in college and in the minor leagues. Pitchers had a chance at the plate sixty years ago. They do not now. It is time to make things universal instead of the two leagues playing with different rules.

Time for the DH in the National League

Rob Neyer over at ESPN.com had an interesting post yesterday (actually a comment on another post, which is all Mr. Neyer seems to do these days) concerning Stephen Strasburg jogging to first on what should have been an infield single. The post came to the conclusion that the NL should keep the pitchers hitting to keep it different but that the pitchers should care about their hitting and at least try. It's hard to argue about the point from a purest perspective. But it sure is easy to argue from a Fan's perspective. First, let's look at some dirty offensive numbers for pitchers:

- Diamondbacks: .197 BA, 44K in 147 at bats, Haran skews the numbers with his 100+ OPS+
- Braves: .167 BA, 33K in 114 at bats, Medlan is a decent hitter.
- Cubs: .147 BA, 35K in 108 at bats, Lost a good bat with Zambrano in the bullpen.
- Reds: .225 BA, 49K in 133 at bats, Batting average totally due to Leake batting over .400 with an OPS+ of 140. Easily the best hitting pitcher in the game.
- Rockies: .146 BA, 35K in 123 at bats, Cook is their best hitting pitcher.
- Marlins: .152 BA, 31K in 105 at bats, Sanchez has been their best hitting pitcher.
- Astros: .183 BA, 44K in 109 at bats, Wandy and Paulino can hit some. Astros pitchers are out hitting Lee.
- Dodgers: .074 BA, 41K in 107 at bats, they all stink. Worst hitting pitchers in baseball.
- Brewers: .190 BA, 45K in 121 at bats, Narveson is the best but Wolf and Gallardo hold their own.
- Mets: .177 BA, 35K in 113 at bats, Dickey is hitting well.
- Phillies: .140 BA, 53K in 128 at bats, Blanton can hit a little.
- Pirates: .095 BA, 51K in 105 at bats, Close to the Dodgers in futility. Maholm is the worst hitting pitcher in baseball going zip for 25 with 16 strikeouts.
- Padres: .196 BA, 40K in 102 at bats, LeBlanc has a 125 OPS+
- Giants: .135 BA, 61K in 111 at bats (far and away the highest whiff rate), Zito at least is in positive numbers in OPS+.
- Cardinals: .140 BA, 43K in 128 at bats, Lohse and Garcia are/were the best hitters.
- Nationals: .146 BA, 43K in 123 at bats, Stammen is a decent hitter.

Collectively, NL pitchers have batted 1880 times and have struck out 673 times or 36% of the time. NL pitchers are batting .156 collectively.

The Fan doesn't see how any of this is any fun for the fans or for the pitchers. How boring is it to see a pitcher hit and have say a 4 in 25 chance of getting a hit? How boring is it to see a pitcher whiff 36% of the time? How boring is it that 99 times out of a hundred, a pitcher will bunt with a runner on no matter if there is one out?

Here are the top ten reasons why the NL should get the DH:

1. Pitchers risk millions by hitting and getting injured so they don't really try.
2. Counting stats between the leagues is skewed by adding two to three strikeouts per game for the NL starting pitcher.
3. Adds to boredom at games. It kills rallies, forces intentional walks of eighth place batters. All those bunts.
4. It risks the investments NL teams place in pitching.
5. Ends awkwardness during interleague and World Series games.
6. Would keep teams like the Nationals from having to put a guy like Dunn in the field.
7. Would keep a few sluggers in the game longer.
8. Would simplify box scores and eliminate all those silly double switches.
9. Would keep great starters in the game longer.
10. More offense and thus more excitement for fans of NL clubs.

It's time to end the arcane split of the DH rule between the leagues. Minor league pitchers don't usually hit. It's no fun watching a pitcher hit, unless he is a Zambrano or a Leake. It's just time.