One rule change that seems destined to be approved by the owners and the union in Major League Baseball is that of a "universal DH." It will be quite a change for the National League, and one that could give some opportunity to players who otherwise would sit the bench.
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00:00If we have a Major League Baseball season this year, we will also have a
00:10universal DH. National League teams already are planning on using some
00:16veteran hitters in the DH role. Players such as Howie Kendrick of the Nationals,
00:21Ryan Braun of the Brewers, Hunter Pence of the Giants, Matt Kemp of the Marlins,
00:26and, if he's healthy, Yohannes Cespedes of the Mets. When we think about the
00:31prototypical DH, we think of somebody like Nelson Cruz of the Minnesota Twins.
00:36But it turns out a player like that is actually the exception. Go back over the
00:42last 10 years in the American League and how the DH has been used. Now if you
00:47define a full-time DH as someone who starts at least 100 games in the DH spot,
00:53the league has averaged only five full-time DHs per year. The majority of
00:59teams, two-thirds of American League teams, prefer to rotate players through
01:04that position. So when you think about how the National League will use the DH
01:08spot this year, you have to think about more than just one hitter filling that
01:13role.