Pitchers were first replaced by the designated hitter during the 1973 season of Major League Baseball. Initially adopted by the American League, it came to exist in the National League as part of the 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement.
Trevor Rosenthal wishes that wasn’t the case.
The 33-year-old former MLB reliever is apparently a baseball purist. He wants to make pitchers hit again and made that abundantly clear by plastering the slogan on his new hat.
Rosenthal proceeded to get absolutely bodied by the internet. His professional baseball career could not be more contradictory of his his passionate stance on the designated hitter.
The Missouri-native was drafted in the 21st round of the 2009 MLB Draft and was called up to The Bigs on July 16, 2012. He played six years with the Cardinals from 2012 to 2017, missed 2018 with an injury, and finished out his career with one year with the Nationals and Tigers and one year with the Royals and Padres. Currently a free agent who has not officially retired, Rosenthal has not played since 2020.
Over the course of his nine-year career, the right-handed pitcher recorded an ERA of 3.36 with 490 strikeouts over 364 innings. He earned an All-Star nod in 2015. It was a pretty strong run on the bump.
That cannot be said as a hitter!
Rosenthal made just four plate appearances during his career and struck out all four times. Here is every pitch he faced during his entire time in MLB:
Every pitch Trevor Rosenthal faced in his career https://t.co/Mda6CcmvXR pic.twitter.com/BnXNSQiGEJ
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 27, 2024
This is the very same guy who wants pitchers to hit! The irony is truly rich.
To make it even funnier, Rosenthal actually played shortstop in college. He should be one of the better pitchers who hit. And yet, even the former collegiate hitter couldn’t hit in the pros!