The new collective bargaining agreement gives Gabe Kapler and every other National League manager some different responsibilities to handle.
With the universal designated hitter rule, there will be fewer double-switches, fewer sacrifice bunts and fewer early-inning pitching decisions to make.
Kapler and the Giants’ coaching staff are always trying to squeeze value out of every rule, finding production on the margins any way they can. That will be no different with the DH, as the Giants skipper explained on the Murph & Mac Show Monday morning.
“It’s a much different style of management, right?” Kapler said as he drove into Scottsdale Stadium. “The decision points are a little different in that the most important thing is having a good feel for when to take your starting pitcher out of the game independent of that spot of the lineup.”
So often in NL play, it seemed like a pitcher’s spot in the lineup came up in the middle of a rally. Even if that pitcher was dealing, managers had to choose between sacrificing more innings pitched or potentially driving in runs by inserting a pinch-hitter.
With the DH, those situations will become anachronistic.
Kapler said the Giants have “lots” of candidates to handle DH duties. Darin Ruf, Wilmer Flores, Tommy La Stella, Evan Longoria and Brandon Belt are all guys who SF could look to get off their feet, the manager said.
But don’t expect players like Longoria, Belt and shortstop Brandon Crawford to start too many games at DH. Those three players are among San Francisco’s most valuable fielders, so taking their gloves out of the equation comes with risk.
It’s important to note that while giving a position player a start at DH isn’t a total day off. Though they wouldn’t be on their feet for half of a three-plus hour baseball game, designated hitters put strain on different muscle groups; they hit in the batting cage between innings and take much more swings than a normal game.
“We don’t want to use the DH spot, whenever possible, to take one of our best defenders out of the game,” Kapler said. “So, Brandon Belt, Longoria, Craw, these are staples on our defense. And really important leaders in that regard…These guys stand out as some of the better defenders at their positions in the game. So we’ll be tempted to give them a blow by putting them in the DH spot, but when we do that, we’ll consider that it’s a different type of work. It’s a different type of stress on the body.”
Keeping his players rested and healthy is top of mind for Kapler, particularly with an abbreviated spring training and an aging roster; SF had the oldest roster in MLB last year.
Kapler said he and Crawford, 35, will work together on a load management plan similar to how SF handled Buster Posey last year. Crawford will surely play more frequently than Posey did given the demands of the catcher position, but a full workload is likely off the table.
“We found out last year that 162 games is a ton,” Kapler said. “Especially the way Craw is diving all over the place. This is not going to be a 162-game season for him. We’ll figure out times to get him off his feet. We want him to be in the lineup as much as possible. Maybe that looks like 145 or 150 — or even a little bit more than that — of Craw’s best performance with that collaborative planning.”
Crawford played 138 games in 2021, and Kapler said he plans to sit down with the MVP candidate to map out some times on the schedule where it could behoove him to rest.
San Francisco wants Crawford — and all their players — as healthy and productive as possible every day. The DH should help with that.
“It will be a rotation,” Kapler said. “You’re not going to see the same DH every time there’s a left-handed pitcher out there and the same DH every time there’s a right-handed pitcher out there. We’re going to use that spot to sometimes get guys a little bit of a blow, and very often get bats into the lineup — because we have plenty of those.”
Listen to the full interview, including why Kapler thinks Carlos Rodón is a “special talent,” below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Murph & Mac weekdays from 6 – 10 a.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.