Who knows where we sit with baseball at this point. It does not seem like it is moving in the direction we would want it to move. Milwaukee Brewers’ players haven’t spoken out in any way shape or form. That surprises me considering the journalists we have here, but that’s another topic for another time. One of the rules that has agreement from the players union and the MLB owners is a universal designated hitter. With the teams playing regionally against their other league counterpart, they’ve added a DH to make things less confusing and appease the players. Jim Bowden of The Athletic wrote about all the NL team and who can take advantage of the DH. Brewers are one of those teams.

The DH rule would certainly extend the career of the 36-year-old Ryan Braun, who would be able to play more games if he could take over the position full-time. Braun can still hit, as shown by his .285 average, 22 home runs, and 116 OPS+ in 459 at-bats in 144 games last year. But his body is not bouncing back like it once did, and the wear and tear of playing in the field is catching up to him. For him to maintain his offensive production, an (almost) full-time move to DH would definitely benefit both him and the Brewers. The DH rule would allow newly acquired outfielder Avisaíl García, infielder Jedd Gyorko and first baseman Justin Smoak to get more playing time if Braun moved to DH.

Brewers loaded up their offense this offseason to the point where questions were raised about where to put Ryan Braun? As Bowden points out, Braun helps out immediately at the DH position. He doesn’t have to play much in the field and can only focus on hitting the baseball. Braun hasn’t said anything in terms of his preference for or against the DH. They do have other options to fit into that DH spot. Jedd Gyroko is an awful fielder but can hit the cover off against lefties.

There is a 0.0 chance the Brewers could have predicted a pandemic, but with all of the options, Craig Counsell has a full cupboard of options for the designated hitter position. For those that miss baseball like I do, hang in there. Hopefully, everyone can figure their shit out and get us back to baseball in early July.

Charlie.