All Major League Baseball teams will be permitted to utilize designated hitters during the upcoming season, a move that’s exciting plenty of players.
J.D. Martinez is among them.
“I’m all for it, obviously,” the Boston Red Sox slugger told reporters Sunday, per MassLive’s Chris Cotillo.
“I’m a DH. I think you could speak to a lot of pitchers who are for it, too. A lot of pitchers like it and a lot of pitchers in the AL like it because they feel like the pitchers in the NL have an advantage. That’s one less hitter they have to face and one less elite hitter they have to face. I like it. I like to even the playing field across the board. I understand the history of it, so I see the other side of it too, but I’m in favor of it.”
It’s not hard to see why Martinez, who can opt out of his contract with the Red Sox at the end of the 2020 season, is a fan of the idea. With 15 more teams potentially able to pick up designated hitters in the upcoming offseason comes more job opportunities for the 32-year-old, something he also acknowledged.
But there’s more to his opinion than that.
“I think it keeps everybody safe,” Martinez added, per Cotillo. “It keeps our pitchers safe. It keeps the game fun, there’s more offense, which is what fans like to see. You don’t have the whole, ‘He had a 2.00 ERA in the NL so that would really be a 3.00.’ Now it makes it easy and makes it even across the board for everybody.”
How will the universal DH impact the 2020 season? Only time will tell.
