The Double Switch

Living in a city with an American League baseball team (Seattle Mariners) and with it the designated hitter, I don't get much of an opportunity to see a double switch in baseball.  With the World Series starting tonight, I thought I would take a minute to explain the double switch and why it will be in the mind of the managers when they play in St. Louis.  If you are from a National League city and/or have a clear understanding of how and why a double switch is made, then this post won't be for you.

Purpose
A double switch is used by a manager to bring in a new pitcher and at the same time change where the new pitcher will hit in the batting order.

How
If you bring in one player, by rule they must bat in the same position as the player they are replacing.  So, if you bring in a new pitcher without making any other changes the batting order stays the same.  In order to get the new pitcher to bat in a different spot in the batting order, the manager must substitute two new players at the same time (the new pitcher and a position player).  The pitcher would actually be brought in for the position player, and the position player would be brought in for the pitcher.  Then they would switch defensive positions after the substitution.

Example
Let's say in the game tonight the Rangers are pitching in the bottom of the 5th inning and in the top of the 6th the pitcher for the Rangers is going to be first up.  Ron Washington may decide to change pitchers sometime during that inning and at the same time bring in a position player.  So if the shortstop is hitting 8th in the lineup and was the last out in the top of the 5th, he could substitute his new pitcher for the shortstop and substitute the new shortstop for the pitcher.  The new shortstop would then take over the position in the batting order for the pitcher that was removed and bat 1st in the next inning and the new pitcher would take over for the shortstop that was removed and will bat 8th in the order and might not be up for an inning or two.

Why Not Just Use a Pinch Hitter?
If you don't want the pitcher to hit, you may be thinking that it's easier to just use a pinch hitter when the pitcher comes up.  The beauty of the double switch over a pinch hitter is that it allows a manager to use less players.  Using the example above, let's say Ron Washington needs to switch pitchers in the 5th inning and doesn't want his pitcher to hit in the top of the 6th and doesn't use the double switch.  He brings in the new pitcher in the 5th and then in the top of the 6th, he brings in a pinch hitter to hit for the pitcher.  Now in the bottom of the 7th, he must bring in a new pitcher since he used the pinch hitter.  He used two players that can't come back into the game and got an inning or less from the one pitcher.  By using the double switch that pitcher might be able to pitch two or three innings before he comes up to hit.

What's the Downside?
The downside of the double switch is that the manager is removing a starting position player from the game.  That player may be a better hitter, better fielder or a better all around player than the player that's replacing him.  So the manager has to weigh the short term gain, not having the pitcher hit, versus the long term possibilities of not having the starting position player available later in the game.

Conclusion
Although I loved watching Edgar Martinez as the designated hitter for the Mainers for many years, I really think having the pitcher hit adds a whole lot of strategy to the game and really makes for more difficult decisions for the manager.  I'm looking forward to the World Series and the games played in St. Louis.  It will be interesting to see how the Rangers with their great batting lineup will handle pitching changes as the game moves along.

Enjoy the World Series!!!

Don Edlin
Owner
QCBaseball.com