Let’s start off hoping Adam Wainwright has a full and speedy recovery. That being said, Rob Neyer discusses an argument about whether Wainwright should have been running the bases and whether pitchers should bat. A call for the DH in the NL.

I am a AL loving kind of girl but we have talked about my love for traditional baseball.

I love the NL and its time honored history of no DH. Now Wainwright has been hurt by running the bases and Max Scherzer has been hurt by batting. Scherzer is even being quoted that people don’t want to see the pitchers hit.

https://twitter.com/BBTN/status/592754453926797314

Well sorry Max but this fan loves watching the pitchers hit! I love to see the unexpected and while most of the time the pitcher is an easy out there are some surprises. Having the pitchers hit creates a  different game.  You take that away and you take away some of the game. There other thing to realize, is the AL is the only place pitchers don’t hit. Little league and college ball all have their pitchers hitting.  In the minors the NL clubs the pitchers hit. This from milb.com:

Q. Do pitchers hit in the Minor Leagues?

A. Pitchers only bat at the Double-A and Triple-A levels. Here are the rules for the individual leagues at those levels:

International: Pitchers only hit when both clubs are NL affiliates
Pacific Coast: Pitchers only hit when both clubs are NL affiliates and both clubs agree to have their pitchers hit
Eastern: Pitchers only hit when both clubs are NL affiliates
Southern: Pitchers only hit when both clubs are NL affiliates
Texas: Pitchers only hit when both clubs are NL affiliates

its a long standing tradition. Yes, Wainwright got hurt but he got hurt running something he could have done fielding his position. The AL has plenty of hurt pitchers and batting had nothing to do with it. I personally think there is a pitcher epidemic going on. It just seems that a lot of good pitchers are getting very injured. If the hope that the DH will preserve pitching its an argument that has been discredited in the AL.