Pitchers batting. You know how I feel about that in the year 2021.
I’m writing on this topic again because there’s a new article by Neil Greenberg in the Washington Post that goes a long way toward explaining why pitchers are lousy hitters in modern baseball. To wit:
In 2020, an average American League DH batted .229 with a .724 OPS. The average National League DH batted .235 with a .731 OPS. The average National League pitcher, meanwhile, batted .131 with a .329 OPS in 2019. The difference between the two is equivalent to adding as many as 80 runs per 600 plate appearances to their team, compared with the average player.