MLB: The Case for the 26th Player Being a Starting Pitcher

Adding a 26th player to each MLB team’s everyday roster appears to be pretty much a lock, provided the players give on decreasing the 40-man September roster to something not less than 28. Oddly though, it’s been a foregone conclusion that the extra player will largely be a reliever. But there’s a solid argument for adding a starting pitcher as the 26th player and using him in a six man rotation…

Trends in baseball often take on a steamroller effect. Almost every team, for instance is on the “shift” bandwagon with opposing managers challenging each other to create a new dance step to outwit the other. Official scorekeepers are baffled when a ball is hit to the right side of second base, but is fielded by the third baseman. What is that – a ground out to third or second?

Bullpens Are The New Religion

The latest “new religion” in baseball is in the bullpen. From the Royals bullpen that is credited with taking them to a World Championship in 2015, to the Cleveland Indians bullpen that took them to the brink of a Championship this past season, teams are trending towards accenting their bullpen as a primary source of team building.

So, if you have the opportunity to add a 26th player to your active roster, why not add a reliever to stay with the pack? But hold on, not so fast.

It’s a new idea with the 26th player and teams will undoubtedly do one thing this year and something else next season, or perhaps they’ll make changes as the season moves along. But for a team to hop on the bandwagon and reflexively add a reliever just doesn’t make any sense.

26th Player : Here’s An Alternate Approach

Take, for instance, the New York Mets . Here’s a team whose starting pitching staff, with the exception of the Ageless Wonder Bartolo Colon , who the Mets let the Braves sign, was entirely decimated with injuries last season. Only Noah Syndergaard was able to limp to the finish line.

More from Call to the Pen

But to offset those setbacks, the Mets were able to pull two promising starters pitchers out of their hat in Robert Gsellman (4-2, 2.42) and Seth Lugo (5-2, 2.67). Both proved they are major league ready, and yet one or even both of them are scheduled to start the season in the bullpen, or perhaps even back in AAA Las Vegas.

And so for a team like the Mets, and there’s certainly others whose roster I haven’t studied who would be in a position to do the same, would it not benefit them to move to a six-man rotation? Because in this way, a number of things could be accomplished.

One, it would allow the (apparently) tender arms of the Mets core of potential All Star starters to go out there and let ‘er rip for not four, not five, but hopefully seven innings, while knowing that there’s an extra day of rest on the horizon every time they start.

And two, it just might make each starter more aware of the fact that their team needs them to space out 120 pitches over a longer stretch. Or in other words, it just might make them better pitchers instead of what they were going all out for five and taking a seat on the bench for the rest of the game.

Treading Lightly On New Ground

Again, these will be individual decisions that each team will have to make in the upcoming season. While this could work for the Mets, it could blow up another team.

But it would seem foolhardy for a team to simply just “go with the flow” which also seems to be dictating that the 26th man be a reliever, because there are other (and sometimes even more sensible) uses for that 26th man.

Next: Arizona to Trade a Starter?

One thing is for sure: The proposed new rule is going to add a element of intrigue to the coming season that we haven’t seen before. Now let’s get it tied up in a pretty little bow by cementing it in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement…
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