Phillies should benefit from one last season without the designated hitter | Bob Brookover
The Phillies benefited in some ways from having a designated hitter in the National League last season, but it could be to their advantage even more not to have it this season.
The logical assumption at the end of last season was that the designated hitter would be back this season in the National League, signifying the continuation of the universal DH era that would forever exist in all the lands and territories.
That turned out to be a silly belief because it did not take into account the animosity that exists between the owners and players.
You want this, we want that. You want this, we want that.
So there will be no DH in the National League until the 2022 season when it is sure to be part of the new collective bargaining agreement that will likely take a long time to agree upon. The really sad thing is that both sides want the DH now.
“I think for a year we all enjoyed it and I think moving forward it’s a real possibility, but it’s just not going to happen this year,” manager Joe Girardi said recently.
The question for the Phillies is this: Does the lack of a DH in 2021 help or hurt them?
“I think our lineup is deep,” Girardi said. “And I think our pitchers swing the bat pretty well. Our pitchers hit great last spring and I was excited to watch them, but we never got to see them hit.”
Kudos to Girardi for remembering last year’s spring training. Beyond the COVID-19 shut down, the 2020 trip to Clearwater is pretty much a blur to most of us. A fact check found that Phillies pitchers did indeed have a successful Grapefruit League at the plate, batting a combined 1.000.
We’d advise against getting too excited about the two singles from Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler that represented the entirety of the great hitting spring by the pitchers. The Phillies do, however, have two above average hitting pitchers in Wheeler (a .150 career hitter who batted a career-high .211 with a home run two years ago) and Zach Eflin (a .152 career hitter who hit .261 as a rookie). Vince Velasquez (a .224 career hitter with a .508 OPS) is a well-above-average hitting pitcher, but it is unlikely he will work his way into the starting rotation.
For the record, the Mets had the best hitting pitching staff in the National League two years ago, batting .166 with six home runs, thanks in large part to Jacob deGrom, who hit .200 with two homers.
That’s enough about pitchers hitting. Their contributions at the plate are not going to be a deciding factor in the divisional race. The more important factor is how the lack of a DH is going to affect lineups.
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“The cons are that there are times when you like to give guys some time off their feet, but you don’t want to lose their bat in the lineup,” Girardi said. “And now we don’t have that luxury.”
For the Phillies, that was actually a necessity a year ago. With Andrew McCutchen coming back from ACL surgery on his left knee, Girardi filled the DH spot with the former Gold Glove center fielder a team-high 16 times. That role will only be available to Girardi for eight interleague road games in 2021, which means McCutchen will likely be asked to play a considerably higher percentage of games in left field.
“Well, I think we’re going to be in a much better position because [McCutchen] is a year removed [from surgery],” Girardi said. “In saying that, I haven’t seen Andrew do all the things he needs to do this year. But I got a report that physically he’s so much further ahead than he was when he got to spring training 2.0 last year, which will allow him to play every day. When you’re trying to play and rehab, it physically wears you out. I don’t think he’s going to have to go through the second part as much. It’s just going to be some maintenance.”
If McCutchen can be the guy he was for the Phillies in 2019 before the ACL injury, it would go a long way toward making the team an elite offense even without the DH.
Girardi also used the DH role 10 times on right fielder Bryce Harper and it allowed the manager to keep his biggest star in the lineup late in the season even when he was battling a back injury. Girardi also used the DH eight times on J.T. Realmuto, which meant his bat could be in the lineup even on the days he was not catching. The Phillies’ offense will miss that for sure.
The lack of a DH will make Scott Kingery’s role as a super utility player vital in 2021 because he figures to be the guy to play the most often when one of the regulars is rested or sidelined by injury.
Perhaps the real advantage of no DH for the Phillies is how it will impact the other teams in their division. Atlanta, for example, was second in baseball in runs scored last season, thanks in large part to the free-agent addition of Marcell Ozuna, who led all of baseball with 18 home runs. Ozuna played in all 60 games for the Braves, but 39 of them were as the DH.
He will have to play left field in 2021.
“Yeah, I mean that’s OK with me,” Girardi said. “But he’s still going to be a great hitter wherever you put him.”
That’s probably true, but it’s worth noting he hit .362 with a 1.155 OPS as a DH, but only .275 with an .852 OPS in 29 starts as a left fielder last season. He is also considered a defensive liability at this stage of his career. Like the Phillies with Realmuto, the Braves also figure to lose a big bat in their lineup on the days that catcher Travis d’Arnaud does not play.
The Mets, meanwhile, used the DH most often on slugger Pete Alonso last year largely because he is a defensive liability. New York, in fact, has a bunch of really good hitters who are not good defenders. In addition to Alonso, that list includes Jeff McNeil, J.D. Davis, and Brandon Nimmo in center field. With Alonso unable to DH, the Mets also will have a more difficult time getting Domonic Smith into the lineup as often as they did last year.
Washington was expected to thrive at the DH position a year ago with Howie Kendrick, but with just two home runs he did not supply the power teams look for from that spot. The Nats signed former Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber in the offseason and he would have fit in great as a DH, but now he also figures to be a defensive liability in left field.
The Phillies will surely miss some things about the DH this season, but in the long run one final season of pitchers hitting might just benefit them because it could have more of a negative impact on their opponents.
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