With major league baseball adopting the universal DH just a few years ago, just how this kind of thing works has been in the front of people’s minds more often. The answer to the question does college baseball use the designated hitter? Is that almost universally it does.
There are just a few exceptions, but for the most part, even college uses a DH in their lineup. The biggest reason why a team would not is because they have a pitcher, or pitchers who are very good hitters. This happens far more in college than it does in the pros. In fact, it happens often.
Does college baseball use the designated hitter?
In college there are even pitchers who play an entirely different position when they are not on the mound. The most famous, recent instance of this was Florida’s Jac Castiglione. He was quite the hitter in his career with the Gators, but was also a very good pitcher.
NCAA Rule 7-2 allows teams to have a DH in their lineup. The big caveats for that rule are these:
- The designated hitter can only hit for the pitcher.
- Pinch hitting for the DH means that the pitcher spot must bat from there one out.
There is also an interesting rule that only applies to college. Should a pitcher get relieved on the mound, he can be inserted into the lineup as the new DH, assuming it’s done right away.
There is one other caveat to the answer of does college baseball use the designated hitter? There are some schools that have decided not to. The Ivy league, for one uses pitchers to hit at all times, sticking to the more traditional approach to the sport.