Why making pitchers bat is one of baseball's most beautiful facets

During All-Star week there have been rumblings that the National League will adopt the designated hitter rule. But pitchers themselves aren’t sold on the idea

It was a stray comment, a line tossed out by Tony Clark, the head of the baseball players union in his annual address to the media on Tuesday. But in saying baseball is getting closer to a day when pitchers will no longer hit in the National League, he may have set off an earthquake.

“Players are talking more about it than in the past,” Clark said, adding that the concept of bringing the designated hitter, who effectively bats for the pitcher, to the NL “is gaining momentum.”

That the NL didn’t adopt a designated hitter when the American League did in 1973 is a stroke of stubborn brilliance that makes baseball feel special in a homogenized sports world, where moving teams often means little more than a change of city. The NL is almost alone in its resistance to the designated hitter, which has been adopted in most every professional and amateur baseball league globally. Changing this order would whitewash a part of baseball’s charm.

Even more, it would eliminate one of the game’s great joys: watching the pitcher hit. Baseball is a sport filled with sluggers who can blast balls 450 feet. There is something appealing about a pitcher who flails helplessly at pitches, creating the perfect counterbalance to a world built on power.

“Of course its fun to hit,” Oakland Athletics pitcher Blake Treinen said before Tuesday’s All-Star game as he stood in the American League clubhouse. “It’s every kid’s dream to swing the bat in a big league game.”

As a member of the Washington Nationals for five seasons, Treinen had 19 plate appearances, which resulted in a single and a walk among 17 outs. Four of those plate appearances were sacrifice bunts but nine were strikeouts. A typical pitcher’s performance.

“I know baseball is looking for ways to make the game more exciting, but baseball is great as long as you keep it simple,” he said with a sigh. “I don’t really like the big changes.”

Treinen said he understood the reasons behind the designated hitter: that pitchers are in the majors for their pitching and not their hitting, that pitchers are often automatic outs and that people often talk abut wanting more offense in the game. He knows, too, that the designated hitter provides an opportunity for some players who don’t field a position well or have injuries that keep them from running on the field. But he also wonders why everyone assumes hitting pitchers are a bad idea.

“I think a lot of fans enjoy watching pitchers hit,” he said.

As in someone like Bartolo Colon, he of a .094 lifetime batting average, slugging his first-ever home run at the age of 42, as he did in San Diego back in 2016?

“Yes,” Treinen said with a laugh. “But also someone like [former Nats teammate] Max Scherzer coming up and everyone wondering: ‘Can he hit a grounder up the middle that will be a base hit?’”

Across the room, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher JA Happ seemed to agree. Happ, who came up through the minors in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, hitting on occasion with modest success, enjoys the strategy that comes with the National League game: watching managers manipulate the way they pitch to teams, trying to get to the pitcher, who will most-likely make an out; or seeing how managers must decide whether to pinch hit for a pitcher who is throwing well, all in the hopes of getting a run.

“There’s definitely a difference between the two leagues, right?” he asked. “It’s part of the uniqueness of the two leagues.”

Happ shrugged. He hadn’t heard Clark’s comments earlier in the day. There had been celebrations and a parade before batting practice so the players were generally unaware of most news being made around the All Star Game. Who knows the context of Clark’s remarks? Were they off-hand, wishful or serious?

Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred seemed surprised when he spoke to the media after Clark. He said that since he had been the league’s chief labor negotiator the last 16 years he “could have made a deal” with the union to force the designated hitter upon the NL. But doing so never seemed a priority.

“I think the most likely outcome at this point remains status quo,” he said.

Which must be relief to all Bartolo Colon fans out there. Colon is still pitching at the age of 45 and still hitting in interleague games for the American League Texas Rangers where this year he is 0-for-2 with a strikeout.

And a lot of fun.