How DH could affect the Rockies
Blackmon, Murphy might be reasonable fit if NL joins AL on rule set in 1973
As if Coors Field needed more offense, the designated hitter might be making its way to the National League.
On Monday morning, baseball analyst Jim Bowden tweeted “there is a growing belief amongst NL (general managers) that the DH will be instituted for NL as early as 2021.”
The designated hitter has long been up for debate among baseball fans since it was introduced in the American League in 1973, with traditionalists arguing the rule is tantamount to sacrilege. Those same folks criticize the DH for minimizing strategy by removing double switches, bunt scenarios and other managerial aspects of the game.
On the other side of the fence is a contingent of baseball fans that cheers the possibility of a universal DH. They argue that watching floundering hurlers attempt to hit is a waste of time, as evidenced by the .131/.161/.168 slash line of National
League pitchers last year.
And while a National League DH would take the bat out of the hands of solid-swinging pitchers such as right-hander German Marquez, who won the 2018 silver slugger at his position, the new rule would also give the team flexibility to have a big bat in the lineup without having to worry about any defensive ramifications.
A Rockies DH could be particularly applicable to former batting champion Charlie Blackmon, who has become subpar defensively in the vast Coors Field outfield, or first baseman Daniel
Murphy, an accomplished hitter who doesn’t bring much with his glove.
But no matter where fans stand on the prospect of a universal DH, the effect of the new rule is certain to be felt more at Coors Field than at any other National League ballpark.
There were 1,044 runs scored at Coors Field last year, or 12.88 runs per game. That figure is in the same “Coors Canaveral” atmosphere as the 13.4 runs per game in the stadium’s last pre-humidor year, 2001. Though a more aerodynamic, “juiced” ball certainly played into last season’s scoring surge in LoDo, from a logical perspective, a DH probably wouldn’t bring scoring down at the ballpark.
While there is some debate to be had about a DH’s effect on the length of a game — would fewer pinch hitters speed it up, or would the additional offense a DH brings slow it down? — when it comes to Coors Field, it probably wouldn’t make for a shorter fan experience. The average game time in MLB was a record 3 hours, five minutes in 2019, but it was an even slower pace at Coors Field with an average of 3:23.