The DH Rule and Japanese Baseball

I don't understand why pitchers can't hit! I think they should be able to hit too. Daisuke Matsuzaka is a very good hitter, I think it is a shame that he ends up in a DH league.

Matsuzaka at Koshien [YouTube].

One of the classic arguments against the DH is that a pitcher in a DH league can throw more aggressively inside without any fear of retaliation during his own plate appearances.

I grew up a fan in a non-DH league (the MLB National League) but now follow the Pacific League primarily. I like the DH league since (theoretically) you get 9 strong batters and not several ABs with a guy batting .051, but at the same time the egalitarian in me thinks that if you play you should bat.

But back on the pro-DH side of the fence, I like not having to see a pitcher who is pitching well get pulled because a better bat is needed. That's just frustrating.

So really, I think there's no good answer!

Enatsu - Tigers ace pitches 11 no hit, no run innings then hits the winning sayonara home run.

Matsuzaka hits a solo home run off Darwin at Koshien.

Miura hit a home run in 2008.

Pitchers can hit and can make a contribution on the batting side and should be encouraged to do so.

...I think that it's great that there's a pro league that uses it and a league that doesn't, so you can watch whichever way you prefer.

I'm obviously more of a PL fan than anything, so while I don't really feel strongly about it, I'm vaguely in favor of the DH. I think the great effect it has on the game is that it lets some guys stay in the game as batters even when their defense isn't so great - or when they get older and slow down a bit. Like Takeshi Yamasaki, who's made a great DH for Rakuten, but would be out of a job otherwise. Or guys like Yoshihito Ishii, who can hit but don't really have a place to play per se. And someday when the Fighters clear up their logjam at DH/1B, I'm sure Sho Nakata will benefit from the DH rule, as he can't field worth anything. And if only there was a DH in the CL, Kazuyoshi Tatsunami would be doing something besides just pinch-hitting right now.

Basically, it's neat that it creates an extra role on the team that wouldn't be there otherwise. It also, to some extent, creates more opportunities for foreign players since they often get used as a DH.

I guess my main selfish reason for liking the DH is that it makes keeping score easier, as there isn't quite as much lineup-shuffling for pinch-hitting for the pitcher and all.

I grew up watching my team who plays in the National League so could be biased, but I really much prefer to watch games where the pitcher has to bat. It creates so many interesting moments, e.g. whether to leave a pitcher in when they are pitching well but the game is poised that you need a clutch hit, the double-switch, etc.

The DH was only introduced as some kind of novelty in the American League to boost offense which in turn was to boost crowd numbers. I think you'd find many people who really love and study the game would love to see it done away with, but the only reason it still exists is because of the players union. All of a sudden, you'd have 14 players out of work.

I grew up watching baseball in NL cities (my mom had season tickets to the Phillies when I was a kid, and I went to college in Pittsburgh), and in all honesty, I simply just don't remember it being all that much more exciting to see a pitcher bat than to have a DH.

Of course, this might partially be because when I moved to an AL city, it was Seattle, and there have never been two better words as a pro-DH argument than "Edgar Martinez."

I think a great way the DH rule is used is to ease a guy back into the lineup when coming back from an injury, or also to give some fielders a break while keeping their bat in the lineup. (I'm specifically thinking of teams that have DH-able catchers here, such as Lotte with Hashimoto/Satozaki.)

Yeah, it's exciting to see a pitcher hit a home run, but you know what? It's also exciting to see a triple play, and I'm not sure which of those occurs more frequently.

I think you'll find just as many people who really love and study the game who are fine with the DH rule being there -- or even more who just say "choose whatever way you like and watch those games and stop arguing about it, it's a matter of opinion and you're really not going to convince anybody one way or the other."

I think you missed the point of my post. I didn't say it was exciting to see a pitcher hit a HR. My point was that it was more intriguing to watch a NL/CL game because of the way teams pitch to and manage having a pitcher in the 9-hole.

I'd have to disagree with you regarding most of the DHs playing in the AL. Basically, they are a bunch of older players who can't take the field anymore. Unless a ball takes a nasty jump off the base of the wall, you're not going to see any of those guys score those triples you mentioned .

Again, just my opinion, although I think the purists will agree! Where are you purists?

Sorry Deanna, just re-read your post. You didn't mention DH's hitting triples, you typed "triple plays." My bad.

For what it's worth I think pitchers hitting HRs is much more common than a team turning a triple play. Pitchers hitting HRs don't excite me at all to be honest unless it's in a critical part of the game.

One aspect about the designated hitter rule which isn't talked about much (because it happens so rarely in both MLB and NPB) is what happens when the DH is put in the field. The usual reason for this would be an injury to a player that the DH can play better than any of the other reserves on the bench. There are other reasons, and it does happen in both the American and Pacific Leagues. But it's still very rare.

However, one thing I've noticed in Korean box scores is that it happens a lot in Korea. It happened 49 times in 2008 (when I first started tracking Korean baseball), and has already happened 19 times over the first 5 weeks of the 2009 season. What's even more unusual is the frequency that the DH is replaced with a pinch runner or pinch hitter.

+--------+------+------+------------------+----------+
| date   | team | opp  | name             | pos      |
+--------+------+------+------------------+----------+
|                     2 0 0 8                        |
+--------+------+------+------------------+----------+
| Apr 05 | HWA  | KIA  | Lee Yeong-woo    | DH 1B    | 
| Apr 06 | SK   | DOO  | Lee Jin-yeong    | DH RF    | 
| Apr 10 | LG   | @WOO | Seo Dong-wook    | DH 2B    | 
| Apr 11 | SK   | @WOO | Chae Jong-beom   | DH 2B 3B | 
| Apr 17 | SK   | SAM  | Kim Gang-min     | PR DH CF | 
| Apr 19 | DOO  | SK   | Min Byeong-heon  | PR DH RF | 
| Apr 27 | LG   | WOO  | Lee Jong-Yeol    | DH 1B    | 
| Apr 30 | DOO  | KIA  | Hong Seong-heun  | DH C     | 
| May 07 | SK   | @LG  | Mo Chang-min     | PR DH 2B | 
| May 07 | HWA  | @LOT | Chu Seung-woo    | PR DH 1B | 
| May 09 | HWA  | LG   | Kim Tae-wan      | DH 1B    | 
| May 17 | SAM  | @DOO | Shim Gwang-ho    | DH C     | 
| May 25 | DOO  | @WOO | Jeon Sang-yeol   | PR DH CF | 
| May 27 | LG   | DOO  | Kim Jun-ho       | PH DH RF | 
| May 27 | DOO  | @LG  | Oh Jae-won       | PR DH 1B | 
| May 27 | SK   | @KIA | Park Jae-hong    | DH RF    | 
| May 27 | SAM  | @WOO | Cho Dong-chan    | PH DH LF | 
| May 29 | LG   | DOO  | Cho In-sung      | DH C     | 
| Jun 01 | LG   | @HWA | Choi Dong-su     | DH 1B    | 
| Jun 05 | SK   | WOO  | Cho Dong-hwa     | PH DH RF | 
| Jun 11 | HWA  | @SAM | Song Gwang-min   | PH DH 1B | 
| Jun 13 | SK   | KIA  | Chung Kyoung-bae | PH DH 2B | 
| Jun 14 | LG   | HWA  | Choi Dong-su     | DH 1B    | 
| Jun 15 | HWA  | @LG  | Oh Seung-taek    | PR DH LF | 
| Jun 15 | KIA  | @SK  | Choi Kyung-hwan  | DH 1B    | 
| Jun 20 | DOO  | @KIA | Oh Jae-won       | PR DH 3B | 
| Jun 27 | DOO  | SAM  | Hong Seong-heun  | DH LF    | 
| Jun 27 | SK   | HWA  | Mo Chang-min     | PR DH 1B | 
| Jun 29 | HWA  | @SK  | Kim Tae-wan      | DH LF RF | 
| Jul 03 | KIA  | WOO  | Na Ji-wan        | DH LF    | 
| Jul 06 | SK   | @HWA | Kim Dong-geon    | PR DH 1B | 
| Jul 09 | LOT  | @WOO | Jeong Bo-myeong  | DH 3B    | 
| Jul 13 | LG   | SAM  | Choi Dong-su     | DH 1B    | 
| Jul 13 | LOT  | DOO  | Karmin Garcia    | DH RF    | 
| Jul 15 | DOO  | SK   | Min Byeong-heon  | PR DH CF | 
| Jul 16 | HWA  | LG   | Kim Tae-wan      | DH RF    | 
| Jul 17 | DOO  | SK   | Min Byeong-heon  | PR DH RF | 
| Jul 17 | LOT  | KIA  | Kang Min-ho      | DH C     | 
| Sep 05 | DOO  | @WOO | Hong Seong-heun  | DH LF    | 
| Sep 07 | WOO  | DOO  | Cho Joong-keun   | DH 1B    | 
| Sep 09 | WOO  | @LOT | Cho Joong-keun   | DH 1B    | 
| Sep 13 | HWA  | @SK  | Chu Seung-woo    | PR DH RF | 
| Sep 17 | SK   | @DOO | Mo Chang-min     | PR DH 1B | 
| Sep 17 | KIA  | @WOO | Lee Ho-sin       | PR DH RF | 
| Sep 21 | LG   | SAM  | Seo Dong-wook    | DH SS    | 
| Sep 25 | WOO  | @DOO | Cho Joong-keun   | DH 1B    | 
| Sep 28 | WOO  | SK   | Kang Gui-tae     | DH C     | 
| Oct 02 | DOO  | @WOO | Jeong Won-seok   | PR DH 2B | 
| Oct 03 | SK   | @KIA | Lee Myeong-gi    | PR DH LF | 
+--------+------+------+------------------+----------+
|                     2 0 0 9                        |
+--------+------+------+------------------+----------+
| Apr 07 | HWA  | DOO  | Kim Tae-wan      | DH 1B    | 
| Apr 10 | SK   | @HRO | Yun Sang-gyun    | PH DH RF | 
| Apr 10 | LOT  | @HWA | Hong Seong-heun  | DH 1B    | 
| Apr 12 | SK   | @HRO | Oh Hyeon-geun    | PR DH CF | 
| Apr 15 | LG   | @SK  | Park Yong-geun   | PR DH LF | 
| Apr 18 | LG   | KIA  | Son In-ho        | DH RF    | 
| Apr 18 | DOO  | @SAM | Lee Seong-yeol   | DH LF    | 
| Apr 19 | SK   | @HWA | Chung Kyoung-bae | PH DH 2B | 
| Apr 23 | DOO  | @KIA | Jeong Soo-bin    | PR DH CF | 
| Apr 29 | DOO  | SK   | Choi Jun-suk     | DH 1B    | 
| May 01 | LG   | HRO  | Choi Dong-su     | DH 1B    | 
| May 01 | DOO  | @LOT | Choi Jun-suk     | DH 1B    | 
| May 03 | SAM  | @SK  | Kang Bong-gyu    | DH 1B    | 
| May 05 | LG   | @DOO | Park Yong-geun   | PH DH SS | 
| May 06 | LG   | @DOO | Choi Dong-su     | DH 1B    | 
| May 06 | SAM  | @HWA | Kang Bong-gyu    | DH 1B    | 
| May 06 | HWA  | SAM  | Chu Seung-woo    | PR DH RF | 
| May 08 | SK   | HRO  | Lee Ho-jun       | DH 1B    | 
| May 08 | KIA  | LOT  | Kim Sang-hun     | DH C     | 
+--------+------+------+------------------+----------+

I'm left wondering what strategy it is that they're employing there in Korea which isn't being done in North America or Japan. (While I can spot trends in stats, I can't explain the thought behind them.) Do any KBO fans have any theories?