Why implementing the DH in the NL would uniquely benefit the Colorado Rockies

On Monday, former MLB GM and current journalist for CBS Sports Jim Bowden, tweeted out that there is a “growing belief among NL GMs that the DH will be instituted for NL as early as 2021.”

Those who can count might immediately have noticed that would leave us with just one season left of pitchers hitting in baseball; an often divisive phenomenon.

Whether you love or loathe the sight of Bartolo Colon in the batter’s box or not, this expected change comes with a myriad of intriguing possibilities for the Colorado Rockies specifically.

While changes like this often leave Colorado out of consideration for the worst, as is the case with the three-batter minimum, this is a rare rule change that will actually have a uniquely positive impact on the Rox.

First, it is incredibly helpful to their current situation. With no DH on the horizon, it makes perfect sense to speculate how much longer Charlie Blackmon, one of the most important players in franchise history, could stick around under his current deal.

He is getting paid plenty fairly for his bat, but his defense has been on the decline for a few years and there is still plenty of time left on his contract. As such, the Rockies would be forced to pick between simply accepting the lackluster defense or trying to trade him from a position of weakness to one of 15 teams in baseball that it would make sense to shop him to.

With a DH in the NL, they could transition him into that role, keep his still-dangerous bat in the lineup, and afford to put a more defensive oriented player out in the vast expanse at Coors Field.

The large outfield makes such a skillset more valuable in Denver but it has always been a tough trade-off for a team that needs to be able to outscore their opponents at home.

Now there are 29 other teams in baseball who Blackmon could potentially be a fit on, and if the team wants to trade him, they can shop from a wider list of options.

Not being forced into a position where you have to trade one of the faces of your franchise is undoubtedly a good thing.

Making the question about what to do with this particular situation easier is nice, but the long-term benefits to a DH for the Rockies are far more far-reaching.

The most important one is the way it will help the unique recovery time that comes with playing half your games at altitude. No other team in baseball has to deal with the wear and tear that comes with travel to and from altitude.

Sure, other teams in the NL will now be able to rest a star player on a Sunday afternoon game, the final day of a homestand as well, but this will be much more meaningful for Colorado.

Players like Blackmon at the 2018 NLDS and Chad Bettis exclusively to DNVR last year have spoken in-depth about how the biggest challenge of playing at Coors isn’t necessarily how far the ball flies or how breaking pitches move, but the physical aspect of being able to play at or near 100 percent as often as possible.

“You don’t recover as well over the course of 162 games,” Blackmon says. Any extra day off for a Rockies player is a little bit more valuable to them.

So it isn’t just that they could put a slugger on the roster, not worry about defense at all, and let him mash in the best hitting environment in baseball. They could also use a DH strategically day-by-day to give key players like Nolan Arenado a day off of their feet without having to miss out on three or four plate appearances.

On the flip side, this certainly could have the effect of continuing to reverse all the good that was done by the humidor. Especially if the “juiced” baseballs aren’t fixed, a DH for every game at Coors Field might mean a return to the days of 12-10 final scores. Though, really, when you think about it, you’re only talking about a few extra at-bats a game going to a position player rather than the pitcher.

There are bound to be a lot of unforeseen elements to this as well. But, for the most part, they are going to affect every team in the NL about the same.

For Colorado, this is less about what extra hitter they can get into the lineup, a new interesting exercise for everybody in the Senior Circuit, it will be about being able to carry a roster that takes advantage of, rather than being hindered by, their home ballpark.