Topic: Is it okay for a battered pitcher to hire a designated hitter?

[Johnny Slick]

Discuss. 

[AQB24712]

Boy, you ain't right.

[WC]

Is it okay for a battered mozzarella stick to get deep fried?

[Citizen Skeptic]

Are we talking baseball here? Because I think the DH is the worst thing to ever happen to baseball. You earn your turn at bat by playing in the field. Period. Not open for discussion.

[Johnny Slick]

Is it okay for a battered mozzarella stick to get deep fried?

NO

Are we talking baseball here? Because I think the DH is the worst thing to ever happen to baseball. You earn your turn at bat by playing in the field. Period. Not open for discussion.

I used to think you were a good person, CS. Also, EDGAR MARTINEZ FOR THE HALL OF FAME

[Skeptress]

In little league you might pitch two innings and then catch the next.  At this stage everybody bats in order and can sit out only one inning.  Next stage up the kids only have to field twice and bat twice. 

Not a fan of designated hitters.

[Johnny Slick]

Little League is a different situation because unlike professional baseball Little League pitchers can often hit. Usually can hit, in fact, because Little League pitchers are usually the best athletes on the team.

FWIW Stephen Jay Gould wrote a pretty awesome essay on why pitchers hit so poorly which, believe it or not, ties into his thinking regarding evolutionary biology. He actually wrote a book's worth of essays on baseball over the years for Nature magazine; it's the last thing he compiled before he passed away in 2002. I can't recommend it highly enough if you are a. a nerd and b. like the national pastime.

[GodSlayer]

is it ok for FX to use Johnny Slick's account to post threads?

[Skeptress]

Speaking of designated pitchers and battered hitters here is what happens when you pitch in at baseball.  9 year old did this to me.  Some of these kids have been clocked pitching 25mph.

[AQB24712]

Ouch. 

[smithkhome]

It's time to start using the DH in the National League. Now that pitching has become so specialized, it seems like a waste to make the pitcher go bat. In the old days, pitchers would routinely finish games...as relief was just clean up work. Now the starter goes 6 2/3 inning, followed by somebody to get the final out of the 7th, followed by the set up guy, followed by the closer. The relief pitchers rarely hit anyway.

Of course, I'm in an American League city...so I have no real past with pitchers batting (except for interleague play).

[Citizen Skeptic]

I think baseball would be a lot more exciting if there weren't any designated positions. Every inning the players rotate positions in an order designated by the managers. Everyone gets to pitch, play shortstop, left field, catch, until the game was over. No more bullpen.

Football ought to be played that way as well.

[Rai]

I think baseball would be a lot more exciting if there weren't any designated positions. Every inning the players rotate positions in an order designated by the managers. Everyone gets to pitch, play shortstop, left field, catch, until the game was over. No more bullpen.

Welcome to cricket (well, not everyone gets to bowl (aka pitch), but it's theoretically possible)

[Movius]

I think baseball would be a lot more exciting if there weren't any designated positions. Every inning the players rotate positions in an order designated by the managers. Everyone gets to pitch, play shortstop, left field, catch, until the game was over. No more bullpen.

Welcome to cricket (well, not everyone gets to bowl (aka pitch), but it's theoretically possible)

Cricket has attempted similar rules in the past. They always fail. The last attempt in 2005 (introduced at the same time as the 15 over fielding restriction was replaced by the 3 "powerplay" system) was of course the  beginning of the death of one-day cricket

[Citizen Skeptic]

I think baseball would be a lot more exciting if there weren't any designated positions. Every inning the players rotate positions in an order designated by the managers. Everyone gets to pitch, play shortstop, left field, catch, until the game was over. No more bullpen.

Welcome to cricket (well, not everyone gets to bowl (aka pitch), but it's theoretically possible)

My thesis is that if you have to rotate positions, you have to be better athletes, so cricket players on average are better athletes than baseball players. Do you buy that?