Royals’ Planned Designated Hitter Rotation is a Bad Idea

Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

For the last couple of years, the Royals have indicated that they would like to use the designated hitter position as a kind of rotating role, in an effort to give various players half-days off in the field, namely Salvador Perez, Alex Gordon, and Lorenzo Cain. The team began stating this plan even while Billy Butler was still under contract, and even though their playoff run may have softened that stance, it still seems like the Royals would prefer using multiple players in the designated hitter spot.

Recent history suggests that is a bad plan.

Going back to 2010, the most productive teams at the designated hitter position are:

Red Sox: 137 wRC+
Tigers: 114 wRC+
Royals: 111 wRC+
Blue Jays: 111 wRC+
Indians: 109 wRC+

One trait each of those teams shared? They all had at least one player who accumulated at least 1000 plate appearances as a designated hitter. The Blue Jays used a platoon of Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Lind, but the other teams mostly relied upon a single DH. David Ortiz, Victor Martinez, Billy Butler, and Travis Hafner gave their teams well above average production over an extended period of time.

At the bottom of the list are the Mariners (82 WRC+), Athletics (98 wRC+), and Yankees (99 wRC+). Among those teams, only the Mariners had a single player with more than 460 plate appearances, and that player was Kendrys Morales, with 704 plate appearances with a 105 wRC+.

There is a bit of a selection bias present, because obviously good hitters will get more opportunities to keep hitting, but the point remains that teams who rely on a single DH generally tend to get better production. It’s not a steadfast rule, because rarely do absolutes exist in baseball. There are exceptions, such as the Yankees in 2012, whose designated hitters produced a 126 wRC+, despite no one collecting more than 170 plate appearances in that role. Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Raul Ibanez were the three most-used hitters.

The 2012 Angels had Morales, Albert Pujols, and Mark Trumbo combine to put up a 120 wRC+. The 2014 Twins had 6 different players with at least 50 plate appearances as the DH, and they collectively produced a 116 wRC+. Of those 6 players, only Morales (who apparently played DH for everyone in the last few years) and Chris Colabello had a season-long wRC+ below 100.

So yes, there are exceptions, but the exceptions had something in common. They had an abundance of good hitters.

The Royals, right now, do not have an abundance of good hitters.

As I mentioned above, the Royals would like to rotate their DH spot throughout the season, giving Perez, Gordon, and Cain some time there. Each player could potentially produce a solid batting line as a DH, but the Royals shouldn’t want to play them there very often, because each player is incredibly valuable defensively, and their backups are not likely to contribute at an above average level. Only Jarrod Dyson can adequately fill in for Cain defensively, but giving bench players regular playing time would only remind everyone why they are bench players.

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Besides, in the case of Perez, his disastrous second half of the season was possibly caused by not getting enough days off. Instead of just giving Perez a half-day off, why not let him take the entire day off? If his offense was at an elite level, I could understand the desire to have his bat in the lineup every day, but it’s not. Perez is a fine hitter for a catcher, but he has a career wRC+ of 104. Forcing that into the lineup, instead of giving him an entire day of rest, is not worth the risk, particularly when a full-time DH should produce a better batting line.

I’ve said many times before that I would love to see Butler return to the Royals and finish his career here. He’s one of the best hitters in team history, and one of my favorite parts of the playoff run was seeing Butler enjoying every second of it, because no one had endured more losses as a Royal than he had. I also think the team could make the finances work rather easily, so hopefully they are seriously considering reuniting with him.

But even if they don’t bring Butler back, they should consider someone like Michael Morse, who is a bad defender but a very good hitter. Morse is likely going to cost more than Butler, but he brings a lot of right-handed power, and could be a steady presence in the DH spot. Corey Hart had a rough 2014, but has been a productive hitter in the past, and keeping him out of the field may help him stay healthy.

There are several other options available to the Royals as a DH, and other than Nelson Cruz (who I wouldn’t recommend signing anyway), none of them will require a ton of money to sign. The team doesn’t need to rotate the designated hitter next year, and they probably shouldn’t.

Using multiple designated hitters has not resulted in productive offensive seasons in the last few years, unless the team has so much offensive depth to make a rotation sensible. For a team like the Royals, they would be better off having a primary DH, and keeping their elite defense on the field as often as possible.  Unless the Royals bring in a few more players with impact bats who can also play solid defense, a rotating designated hitter position isn’t likely to pay off.