Pitching by position players

In baseball, pitching by position players refers to the act of a position player (a player who is normally a catcher, an infielder, an outfielder, or, in this context, a designated hitter) being used as a pitcher. A position player typically pitches when a game has a lopsided score or when the game has gone so far into extra innings that no other pitchers are available. The term is not used for a two-way player, a baseball player who is skilled at pitching and who plays another position.

Although it was extremely rare for position players to pitch prior to the mid-2010's, pitching by position players has now become relatively common in Major League Baseball as an alternative to using regular pitchers in lopsided games where the winner is beyond reasonable doubt. This has led to rules being implemented to limit the use of position players as pitchers.

In the very early days of Major League Baseball (MLB), before substitutions were generally allowed, pitching by a position player was often the only way to relieve a pitcher who was tiring: the pitcher and a position player would switch positions, but neither would leave the game entirely. For example, on July 22, 1884, manager Frank Bancroft of the Providence Greys wanted to relieve Charlie Sweeney after seven innings because the latter was allegedly drunk. This could only be done by asking Sweeney to switch positions with right fielder Cyclone Miller. Sweeney refused and left the team entirely.

However, for most of the history of MLB, position players have rarely been called on to pitch. From 1950 through 1999, it happened a total of 574 times, an average of slightly less than 12 times a season, typically late in blowouts.

Exceptions include the earliest years of the modern baseball era (it happened 236 times from 1901 through 1903) and during the player shortage of World War II (e.g. 71 times during 1942). From 1930 through 1937, it happened six times or less each season, and from 1965 through 1986, it happened eight times or less each season. There have been multiple seasons with no recorded instances, most recently in 2006, and multiple seasons with only a single instance, most recently in 2005. Since 2014, however, it has happened at least 23 times each season, including 90 times in 2019 and 112 times in 2021.

Major League Baseball does not use run differential as a tiebreaker in its team standings. Thus, once a team is trailing by a large margin, there is no meaningful additional consequence to a team's season if it concedes additional runs, including by using inexperienced pitchers. Using a position player as a pitcher is meant to save relief pitchers for more competitive games. However, it also risks injury to position players who are unfamiliar with pitching, although position players generally mitigate the risk by focusing on maintaining control as opposed to velocity. In 1993, Jose Canseco of the Texas Rangers pitched one inning against the Boston Red Sox, conceding two hits, three walks, and three earned runs before injuring his arm; the resulting Tommy John surgery ended his season.

MLB announced a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) in 2019, intended to be effective in the 2020 season, that included restrictions on position players pitching. Each team designates players as either "position players" or "pitchers" before the start of the season, and that designation cannot be changed during the season. Under the 2019 agreement, only players who were designated as pitchers were allowed to pitch in any regular-season or postseason game, with three exceptions: either team was ahead by 6 or more runs, the game was in extra innings, or a player had earned the status of "two-way player" per the MLB definition.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on baseball, MLB did not implement the restriction during the shortened 2020 season. It was also waived for all of the 2021 season, and for part of the 2022 season.