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Biggest winners from MLB potentially adopting universal DH in 2020

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There's a case to be made that, when Major League Baseball finally introduces the universal designated hitter, the biggest benefactor will be veteran sluggers. Without the DH in the American League, the prolonged careers of Edgar Martinez, David Ortiz, and even Nelson Cruz would simply not have been possible.

That being said, the universal DH might not be here to stay, as the league reportedly plans to adopt it for the shortened 2020 campaign to help pitchers and to prevent injuries in what could be a compressed schedule.

Here are the four biggest winners if the league does choose to allow the universal DH:

Cincinnati Reds

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There are a bunch of teams in the Senior Circuit with a logjam of talent, and they'll all benefit in some small way. However, the club with the most to gain is unequivocally the Reds.

Cincinnati went through a transformative winter - adding Nick Castellanos, Mike Moustakas, and Shogo Akiyama - that left a lot of people puzzled about how it would all be pieced together. As a result, the current lineup looks something like this:

Order Player Pos.
1 Shogo Akiyama CF
2 Joey Votto 1B
3 Eugenio Suarez 3B
4 Mike Moustakas 2B
5 Nick Castellanos RF
6 Jesse Winker LF
7 Freddy Galvis SS
8 Tucker Barnhart C

With a DH, all of those questions suddenly disappear. The club can find a way to get both Nick Senzel and Aristides Aquino into the lineup more regularly while also preventing Castellanos from playing the field - where he is a liability. Don't forget: Aquino mashed 19 homers in 56 games last year and is still not expected to be in the Opening Day lineup. It might still take some aggressive managing from David Bell to platoon Senzel with Winker, but with a compressed schedule, the team would likely want to give regular days off to many of their sluggers.

Kyle Schwarber

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Schwarber has seemed to be the quintessential case to adopt the DH in the NL ever since he made it to the majors. To his credit, the slugger slimmed down prior to 2018 and attempted to improve his defense, but it didn't stick long term as he cost the Chicago Cubs seven runs with his fielding last year, according to FanGraphs.

For his career, Schwarber has hit .235/.339/.490. However, over a small sample of 98 plate appearances as a DH, his line improves drastically to .299/.367/.678 with nine homers. That equates to a 164 wRC+, which is roughly as valuable as Cody Bellinger or Nelson Cruz were at the dish last year.

Add in the fact the Cubs will now get to use defensive stars Jason Heyward and Albert Almora Jr. more regularly, and Schwarber acting as DH looks even better.

AL pitchers

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This one might not be so apparent right away, but there's a chance AL pitchers are simply more prepared for this.

You're not going to convince anyone that Max Scherzer or Jacob deGrom are going to turn into pumpkins just because they have to face a DH everyday. However, there are a number of lower tier NL pitchers who certainly benefit from the auto-out they get at the bottom of the lineup every single game. On average, AL pitchers posted a 4.62 ERA last year. Meanwhile, their NL counterparts authored a 4.39 ERA. Every pitcher dealing with a 20-point hit to their ERA would likely cause additional shots to their confidence and/or more reliever usage.

While pitchers used to facing pitchers would be trying to adjust - while dealing with a compressed schedule and all the other ways coronavirus has made the world weird - AL pitchers would be going about their business pretty much unfazed, which would constitute an advantage.

Fans

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There's still a contingent of baseball fans who like watching pitchers hit. They're a vocal minority, but it makes sense. When Madison Bumgarner hits a homer it feels like a big deal. The scarcity of the outcome makes for a great highlight.

However, if you think MadBum - or pretty much any pitcher - is actually good at hitting, you're sorely mistaken.

Among the 117 pitchers with at least 10 plate appearances last year, three posted a wRC+ above the league average: Zack Greinke (123), Steven Brault (105), and Brendan McKay (101). And, don't forget, McKay was also a first base prospect lauded for his hitting ability through college and the minors. Even further, 10 different pitchers with at least 10 PAs went hitless for the season, including Drew Pomeranz, Jose Urena, and Drew Smyly, who all went 0-for-19.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather watch current-day Barry Bonds take at-bats while holding a cardboard tube than see another feeble plate appearance from Urena.

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