I have a question about Ohtani. When he pitches, I assume he also bats. When he is replaced as a pitcher, does his replacement have to go into the lineup as a batter? Or can someone else replace him as a DH? I think they made a special rule for the All-Star game, but that is not a regular game.
When he pitches and bats it is treated like an NL lineup. So the RP goes into the lineup in his position unless Madden makes a double switch. Ohtani can play the OF so he could move there should the manager choose and if Shohei is batting in the next inning.
The Angels have played 123 games thus far this year; Ohtani has batted in 116 of them. He’s started 18 games as a pitcher. So it appears that there have been a handful of games in which he pitched but did not bat. (That’s an unproven inference on my part.)
This is the correct and simplest explanation.
If Ohtani is replaced by a relief pitcher (no double switch), the relief pitcher will be in the batting lineup in Ohtani’s original spot. If Ohtani remains in the game, he will have to go to another defensive position, and the relief pitcher will be in the batting lineup in the spot where the replaced player originally batted.
If a team elects to start the game without a DH, they surrender its use for the entire game.
A team may at any point during a game in which they started off using a DH choose to have the DH take the field, either as a pitcher or any other defensive position, but they lose the use of the DH for the rest of the game.
You’re right. On April 20 Ohtani pitched but they used Albert Pujols as a DH. On May 5 and May 28, Phil Gosselin DHed for him.
Apropos of absolutely nothing, I just read that Ohtani is also the AL league leader in caught stealing. He has 18 stolen bases but has been thrown out 8 times.
So he could lead the league in HRs, ERA, and caught stealing.
Is there some rationale for that I’m not seeing, as opposed to (for example) losing the DH for the next 10 batters and then getting a chance to get it back?
Rule 5.11, which outlines the various regulations about use of the DH, is about preventing its misuse. The basic jist of rule is that the DH must be fixed in the order and cannot be used to manipulate the lineup in any way except to hit for the pitcher. It prevents a manager from pulling double switches or other substitutions that would allow him to use the DH to replace anyone BESIDES the pitcher, or to swap guys in and out of the pitcher spot, crap like that. (One of the explicitly stated purposes of the rule is that whatever spot the DH is in in the order, it remains in that spot.)
As an aside, it is an oddly common urban myth that a manager can use a DH to replace anyone - that in theory your DH could hit for the shortstop, or the catcher, but that MLB managers just don’t do that because it never makes sense to do so. Obviously if you had Shohei Ohtani it would make sense; Ohtani is invariably the best hitter in the Angels lineup if Mike Trout is hurt, so they’d be well advised to have a DH hit for Juan Lagares, who couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat. But anyway you can’t do that. The rule says the DH can only hit for the pitcher.
I read in April that they’re running an experiment in the Atlantic League (an independent league, roughly of A to AA quality, which has a deal with MLB to be a testing ground for rules changes) where you lose the use of the DH once the starting pitcher is replaced for another pitcher. I find this a fascinating idea; it incentivizes using your starter longer, and adds a little strategy in the mid to late game.
There are moments on a baseball season when you just know, and yesterday’s Blue Jays - Tigers game told me, really clearly, that the Blue Jays, despite being within striking distance of a wild card spot, have no chance whatsoever of making it. It was an absolutely dismaying performance, a game they had 14 chances to win. They are also never going to maximize the potential of their enormous talent with Charlie Montoyo as manager; in 40 years of watching this team I’ve never seen a team lose so many games because of a manager’s mistakes.
What a waste of talent this team is. They are loaded with quality ballplayers, some of them having MVP-type seasons.
I haven’t seen much of the Jays this year, but I did see both of the games against the Nationals. It just seemed that the Jays refused to take advantage of all the opportunities the dreadful Nats bullpen gave them. And, you can’t be a playoff team and not seal the deal, especially against a bunch of pitchers who are only out there because someone has to pitch.
As a Nats fan mourning the fact that we’ve gone from within striking distance of first place in the NL East to, now, looking at a two-or-three-year rebuilding process, I was astonished when we snapped our 7-game losing streak by beating the Blue Jays, whom I thought, judging by their record, were a pretty good team. And we beat them twice.
The Nats reverted to form tonight, by allowing a Milwaukee runner to tag up and score from third on a popup caught in the first-base on-deck circle.
The MLB All-Crop Team according to baseballreference.com:
Sugar Cain, Zack Wheat, Mack Wheat, Lee Wheat, Johnny Oates, Cotton Tierney, and Gene Rye.
Seems like Pepper Martin and Jim Rice should also be on the team, with Beans Reardon behind home plate.
I wonder if you could do a fruit team: Daryl Strawberry, Bob and Chet Lemon, Rocky Cherry…
Scott Richmond (formerly of the Blue Jays) could get in on a technicality.
He is of Kiwi descent.
I’ve heard one announcer on ESPN try to come up with gimmick teams often enough I wouldn’t be surprised if they haven’t done one already.
Also, perhaps Bob Welch?
Also, Melvin Mora (blackberry) and Cholly Naranjo (orange tree)
On Saturday, the Giants entered the 9th inning against the A’s trailing by a run, but got a 2-run pinch hit HR and held on to win.
On Sunday, the Giants entered the 8th inning against the A’s trailing by a run, but got a 2-run pinch hit HR and held on to win.
This particular feat (late-inning pinch hit HRs to win in back-to-back games) is unprecedented. Yes that’s a pretty obscure and arcane category, but still…
Brutal for A’s fans, though.
You expect a good deal of bullshit justification for teams firing managers and coaches during the season when things are going badly, but the Padres may have set a new standard for blowing smoke.
San Diego fired pitching coach Larry Rothschild today, after a stretch of pitcher injuries and sub-par performances (for one thing, a 5.63 rotation ERA this month). Manager Jayce Tingler*, who says the decision to fire Rothschild was “100%” his, justified the move not by criticizing any policies or decisions by his pitching coach, but by saying the team needed a new “voice”, and that Rothschild was definitely not being made the scapegoat.
Of course he’s the scapegoat.
*the real problem may be having a manager named “Jayce Tingler”.