New York Mets would immediately benefit from a DH in the NL

The MLBPA proposed a rule change which could possibly bring the designated hitter to the National League, which is big news for the New York Mets.

If the proposed rule change gets approved and the National League does add a designated hitter, this will give the New York Mets some much-needed lineup flexibility. It allows them to give their heavily injury prone roster a day off from the field without losing their bat in the lineup.

One player who would absolutely benefit from the DH role would be Yoenis Cespedes, who has been battling injuries for the past two seasons, with the last one resulting in a season-ending heel surgery for the 33-year-old.

Cespedes, who is under contract for another two seasons, could use a role where he doesn’t have to have a full workload in the outfield because of his injury problems, so he would be the perfect option for the Mets to use in the DH spot.

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This allows the Mets to utilize an outfield of Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, and Jeff McNeil while starting Robinson Cano at second base and Jed Lowrie as an infield utility guy.

Another DH option would be Cano, who is 36 years old. With age comes steady decline, and from a fielding standpoint, it may be best to stick Cano in the proposed designated hitter role.

This gives more flexibility to the infield, where Lowrie and McNeil, who was amazing for them in the infield, to platoon at second base, while the team could still utilize Cespedes’ cannon of an arm in left field.

The last option they could possibly use is Peter Alonso, whose play at first base in the minors was criticized to the point that it seemed like it was the reason he wasn’t called up last season.

The 24-year-old Alonso has been lighting it up at the plate, which helped him secure a spot in last year’s futures game and the 58th spot on the Top 100 prospects list provided by MLB.com, but much criticism has been given to his defensive game, so why not use him as a DH?

The Mets could use this time to trot out different defensive lineups while also giving him time to adjust to Major League Baseball before handing him the starting first base job.

This move would also give Alonso some time to learn the defensive game from major league talent as well as proper training in practice from the major league coaching staff.

No matter who gets the job, this rule change would allow the Mets to trot out different lineups every night, as well as give the injury-prone players some much needed time away from the field.

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Ultimately, the addition of the designated hitter role would most definitely benefit the Mets.