If MLB adopts universal DH, Pirates lack in-house candidates beyond 1B Yoshi Tsutsugo

When MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced that owners agreed to adopt the universal designated hitter, it promised to end a National League tradition and force the Pittsburgh Pirates to adjust their lineup.

For the first time since baseball’s lockout started on Dec. 2, Manfred spoke publicly Thursday at the owners meeting in Orlando and said owners also agreed to institute a draft lottery and eliminate draft choice compensation, pending approval from the MLB Players Association.

“These changes will improve the free agent market by creating additional jobs that are often filled by veteran players and by reducing — actually, eliminating — the drag from compensation,” Manfred said.

“That isn’t even getting into valuing things like additional DH jobs, which are high paying jobs rather than low paying jobs, the elimination of draft-choice compensation, which would tend to increase player salaries. You’re talking about a lot of money.”

That’s money National League teams haven’t had to spend on a designated hitter. The American League adopted the DH in 1973, but the NL had pitchers bat every year except for the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Last year, pitchers batted .108 and struck out in 45% of plate appearances, so the MLB Players Association is expected to agree on a universal DH if it can come to terms on a new CBA.

For the Pirates, adding a DH could require another addition to the roster, as there are few in-house candidates. It’s a position that was problematic for them during the 60-game season in 2020, producing a .187/.272/.304 slash line with seven doubles, six homers and 25 RBIs.

Pirates manager Derek Shelton expressed his misgivings that summer about designating a DH, preferring positional flexibility over a player who strictly served as a hitter.

“It’s not easy to do,” said Shelton, a former hitting coach with Cleveland and Tampa Bay who also coached in Toronto and Minnesota. “It’s really not easy to do for a National League player, to transition into being a designated hitter, because you’re trying to find out what your routine is, you’re trying to find out if you should hit or should not hit. You’re used to being on the field. It’s something that becomes a learned trait.

“Guys that you see that are really good at it, it takes them time to do it. Most guys don’t go to it early in their career or at a younger age in their career. They go to it because they’re more of an advanced hitter and know how to do it. I understand it’s challenging. If the DH stays, it’s something we’re really going to have to work for and talk to our guys about their routines.”

Splitting their duties between DH and first base proved disruptive for Josh Bell and Colin Moran in 2020. Bell was far more productive as a first baseman, batting .274/.338/.492 with eight homers and 17 RBIs in 34 games compared to .129 with no homers and five RBIs in 21 games at DH. He was traded to the Washington Nationals that December.

Moran fared slightly better, slashing .250/.320/.471 with four homers and seven RBIs in 21 games at first base and .231/.330/.396 with three homers and 13 RBIs in 26 games at DH. A converted third baseman, Moran admitted that splitting time between DH and first base was an adjustment to his daily routine.

“It’s different, for sure,” Moran said. “At-bats are at-bats, and I try to take it like that. I definitely had more time to think. You just try to adjust. The consistency of at-bats every night is always a good thing.”

Moran, however, played in only 99 games last season because of injuries and elected free agency after being designated for assignment last fall. Although Cherington said the Pirates didn’t want to go to arbitration with Moran, who was projected to earn $4 million in 2022, but would “keep the door cracked” for him to return in free agency.

For now, that leaves first baseman/outfielder Yoshi Tsutsugo as the prime candidate to serve as DH. The Pirates signed Tsutsugo to a one-year, $4-million free-agent contract after he slashed .268/.347/.535 with eight doubles, eight homers and 25 RBIs in 43 games last season. He previously played for Tampa Bay and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I think we all saw once he got to Pittsburgh that some of the things he’s always done as a hitter were there,” Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said of Tsutsugo this past December. “The ability to make good decisions, good swing decisions, hit the ball in the air, hit with some impact, manage an at-bat against lefties and righties. That’s what he’s done his whole life and, for whatever reason, there was a transition for him coming to the big leagues.”

Tsutsugo, however, has a slash line of .186/.297/.343 with five doubles, three homers and six RBIs in 31 career games as a DH. The Pirates lack internal replacements at first base, as six of the seven players that started games there last season — Moran, John Nogowoski, Will Craig, Phillip Evans, Erik Gonzalez and Todd Frazier — are no longer with the club.

The Pirates might be forced to spend money on a veteran DH in free agency like Nelson Cruz, Mitch Moreland or Khris Davis. More likely, they will continue to get creative with a lineup that lacks big bats but could soon require one.