Eli Ben-Porat at the Hardball Times presents evidence for just how terribly pitchers functions as batters.
My friends who are anti-DH will point out a time a pitcher hits a home run, or does something positive on offense, and use that anecdote as a reason for dumping the DH. The graphs show just how rarely that happens. I also like that DH’s have an excellent combination of exit velocity and launch angle as a group. In general, that group are not the best hitters in the game, but his shows that they do hit the ball hard.
It’s not the end of the argument, however:
It’s no secret that, as a group, pitchers are extremely poor hitters. What is perhaps less evident is just how little they resemble even replacement-level talent and the disproportionate impact they have on the batters who precede them. Baseball is about the best hitters in the world trying to hit the best pitchers in the world, not pitchers lobbing meatballs down the middle and hoping their counterpart doesn’t execute a sacrifice bunt. It’s time to bring on the inevitable and start using the DH in the National League. Or should we? Tomorrow, I’ll present the opposite argument.
Stay tuned.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2vCtDLt
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