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National League Will Adopt the Designated Hitter Position for This Abbreviated 2020 Season

SI's Tom Verducci shows how the American League has been using the DH position in recent years
Tom Verducci|

When the MLB season returns for an abbreviated season in 2020 the National League will be adopting the designated hitter making the position universal throughout MLB. SI's Tom Verducci shares some insight into the role of the designated hitter and shares some statistics as to how the American League has used the DH in the past.

Video Transcript:  

If we have a Major League Baseball season this year, we will also have a universal designated hitter. National League teams already are planning on using some veteran hitters in the DH role, players such as Howie Kendrick of the Nationals, Ryan Braun of the Brewers, Hunter Pence of the Giants, Matt Kemp of the Marlins, and if he's healthy, Yoenis Cespedes of the Mets. When we think about the prototypical DH, we think of somebody like Nelson Cruz of the Minnesota Twins. But it turns out, a player like that is actually the exception. Go back over the last 10 years in the American League and how the DH has been used. Now, if you define a full-time DH as someone who starts at least 100 games in the DH spot - the league has averaged only five full-time DH's is per year. 

The majority of teams, two thirds of American League teams, prefer to rotate players through that position. So when you think about how the National League will use the DH spot this year, you have to think about more than just one hitter filling that role.

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Tom Verducci
TOM VERDUCCI

Tom Verducci is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who has covered Major League Baseball since 1981. He also serves as an analyst for FOX Sports and the MLB Network; is a New York Times best-selling author; and cohosts The Book of Joe podcast with Joe Maddon. A five-time Emmy Award winner across three categories (studio analyst, reporter, short form writing) and nominated in a fourth (game analyst), he is a three-time National Sportswriter of the Year winner, two-time National Magazine Award finalist, and a Penn State Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient. Verducci is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame, Baseball Writers Association of America (including past New York chapter chairman) and a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 1993. He also is the only writer to be a game analyst for World Series telecasts. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, with whom he has two children.

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