Cardinals GM: 'More momentum' in talks for DH in National League
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred lamented in September how a universal designated hitter would "deprive" baseball fans of watching Bartolo Colon's (mis)adventures at the plate, but - with all due respect to the 42-year-old right-hander - it appears some are tired of watching pitchers try to hit.
On Saturday, St. Louis Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said there is "more momentum" in discussions among executives and owners towards bringing the designated hitter to the National League, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The two leagues have played under different rules since the American League adopted the designated hitter in 1973, but with the DH's increasingly ubiquitous presence across amateur and semi-professional leagues, as well as recent injuries suffered by pitchers at the plate, hurlers in the NL could conceivably lose their spot in the lineup in the near future. Mozeliak, for instance, was forced to send Adam Wainwright to the disabled list for the majority of the 2015 campaign after the 34-year-old right-hander tore his Achilles while hitting at Miller Park on April 25.
And, beyond anomalies like Colon (and Madison Bumgarner and Zack Greinke), pitchers are uniformly awful to watch at the plate. Over the last six seasons, pitchers, as a group, haven't posted an on-base plus slugging above .357, and the percentage of plate appearances to end in either a strikeout or sacrifice hasn't dipped below 46.8 percent since 2011.
| Season | AVG | OPS | K% | Sacrifice % | K+Sac% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | .140 | .346 | 33.7% | 10.2% | 43.9% |
| 2011 | .141 | .357 | 32.9% | 10.8% | 43.7% |
| 2012 | .129 | .327 | 37.1% | 10.6% | 47.7% |
| 2013 | .132 | .333 | 36.7% | 10.3% | 47% |
| 2014 | .122 | .306 | 36.6% | 10.2% | 46.8% |
| 2015 | .131 | .327 | 37.7% | 9.1% | 46.8% |
With the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire after the upcoming season, implementation of a universal DH could conceivably happen as soon as 2017, pending approval from the league and players' union.