Welcome back to the final positional ranking video; and today we’re going to rank the top 15 Designated Hitters of all time; maybe someday we can do these again in 10 or 15 years as more amazing active players retire; it’s been a lot of fun diving into baseball history and trying to rank all these amazing players. Today, we go with an interesting position – the DH, a position where defense doesn’t matter at all and these players don’t even need to bring a glove to the ballpark. Their entire role revolves around batting effectively, and they are typically expected to have above-average hitting statistics compared to position players. And preferably, they should be able to hit with lots of power. The only rules for this list are that the player played at least 500 games as a DH and hasn’t appeared on another positional ranking, so if you’re looking for Dave Winfield, check out the top right-fielders video. I’ll also give a little extra bonus for players who had their best seasons as a Designated Hitters. Let’s get into the list.
15. Billy Butler
Billy Butler was identified by the Royals as a primary DH right away and he played 76% of his games as the designated hitter his rookie year of 2007 when he hit .292. He quickly became a staple in the Royals lineup and hit .301 in 2009 with 21 bombs. Butler consistently hit around .300 with power, and made the All Star Team in 2012, a year he won the Silver Slugger Award for the position of Designated Hitter. He smashed 29 homers with 107 RBIs and a .313 batting average. His numbers dropped in 2014 and he ended up with the Oakland A’s, where he hit just .251 in his last full season. Butler retired after a short stint with the Yankees in 2016. He only played 10 years total, but hit .290 with 147 homers, 96 as a DH.
14. Brian Downing
Long-time California Angel Brian Downing played 20 years in the big leagues and was known for his disciplined plate approach, which resulted in more walks than strikeouts throughout his career. Originally a catcher, he reinvented himself as a powerful outfielder and DH after breaking his ankle in 1980. Downing, who had only averaged 6 home runs person season, suddenly crushed 28 bombs in 1982. He averaged 24 homers a year for 7 years, and hit a career high 29 in 1987, the year he transitioned to a full time DH. That season, he also led the league with 107 RBIs. Downing hit 159 of his 275 homers as a DH and retired with over 2,000 hits and 1,000 RBIs.
13. Hal McCrae
Long-time Royal Hal McCrae embraced the role of the DH in 1976, a season in which he hit .332 with a league-leading .407 on-base-percentage. In 1977, he played in all 162 games, 153 as a DH, and led the league with 54 doubles while crushing 21 homers. He was their primary DH for over 10 years and made three All Star games, and he also won a Silver Slugger in 1982 when he again led the league in doubles with 46 and was also #1 in RBIs with 133. He consistently hit around .300 with pop, and was also clutch in the postseason for both the Reds and Royals, hitting .292 with 14 doubles. He was the Royals Designated Hitter in 1985 when they won the World Series, although he saw limited action in the Fall Classic that year due to a thigh injury. He is second all-time with 393 career doubles as a Designated Hitter.
12. Travis Hafner
Up next is Travis Hafner, who played nearly exclusively as a DH, only playing 1st base in 6% of his games. He was the 1996 Texas Rangers 31st Round Pick out of Cowley Community College in Arkansas, and forced his way up the minor league ladder with insane numbers including a .342 average with 22 home runs in Triple-A. Hafner ended up in Cleveland, where he punished pitchers for 4 seasons from 2004 to 2007, averaging 32 homers and 109 RBIs per season. He had an OPS over 1.000 in back-to-back seasons and it’s a complete mystery how he never made an All Star Team. Injuries slowed down his career after that insane peak, but he still hit double digit bombs in 5 more seasons, finishing his career with 213 home runs, 200 of them as a DH.
11. Edwin Encarnacion
An underrated power-hitter who hit more than half of his 424 career home runs as a designated hitter, Edwin Encarnacion had a 16-year career in which he had 10 seasons with 20+ home runs. He made his debut in 2005 with the Reds, and quickly became an every day player but had his real breakout season with Toronto in 2012 when he crushed 42 home runs with 110 RBIs, playing 82 games as a DH. He made 3 All Star Games over the next 4 years before heading to Cleveland where, as a full time DH, he crushed 70 homers in 2 seasons. Encarnacion is 54th all time in home runs, above all-time great power hitters like Al Kaline, Duke Snider, and Johnny Bench.
10. Chili Davis
Chili Davis came up as an outfielder with the San Francisco Giants in the National League, where there obviously was no DH in the 1980s. As a Giant, he made two All Star teams and averaged about 17 homers a year for 6 seasons. Then, he signed with the California Angels, where he got his first taste as a DH, although he was still primarily an outfielder. It was the Twins who converted him into a full time Designated Hitter in 1991 and he hit .277 with a career high 29 home runs and 117 RBIs. He smashed two home runs in the ‘91 World Series, helping the Twins win a title in one of the greatest Fall Classics of all time. Davis returned to the Angels in 1993 and smashed at least 20 home runs for four straight seasons before heading to Kansas City, where he hit 30 homers for the first time in his career. He finished off his career as the Yankees part time DH, winning back to back rings, smashing 19 bombs in 1999, giving him 350 career home runs, 206 as a Designated Hitter.
9. Victor Martinez
Long-time Detroit Tiger Victor Martinez combined plate discipline, contact and power from both sides of the plate. He originally came up with the Cleveland Indians as a catcher, and quickly became a star, hitting .283 with 23 bombs and 108 RBIs in 2004. He got even better from there, smashing 25 homers with 114 RBIs in 2007, finishing 7th for the MVP. The Tigers signed him to a 4-year deal starting in 2011 and converted him to a full time DH. He thrived in the position, hitting .303 with 103 RBIs. Martinez had his best year in 2014, when he finished 2nd for the MVP, leading the league with a .409 on-base percentage while hitting 32 homers and driving in 103 runs. For his career, he made 5 All Star teams and had 2,153 hits with a .295 batting average. As a DH, he hit .317.
8. Don Baylor
The powerful Don Baylor didn’t become a regular DH until signing as a free agent with the California Angels in the late 70’s. He had already established himself as a solid player with some power and fantastic baserunning abilities, but he wasn’t a superstar. Then, in 1979, the Designated Hitter role allowed him to play in all 162 games for the first time in his career, and he smashed 36 homers while leading the league with 120 runs and 139 RBIs. Baylor made his first All Star team and won the MVP Award. He went on to be a full-time DH for the New York Yankees and won two Silver Sluggers. Then, with Boston in 1986, he won a third Silver Slugger, crushing 31 home runs. He hit .346 in the ALCS, a memorable series in which Dave Henderson hit that famous home run off Donnie Moore to give the Red Sox the lead in the 9th inning of Game 5. The Red Sox went on to win the series, and people remember the Henderson home run, but they couldn’t have won it without Baylor. He also hit .385 in the 1987 World Series, helping the Twins win it all. Baylor is 7th all time with 225 homers as a DH and 6th in RBIs with 789.
7. Nelson Cruz
Power-hitting DH Nelson Cruz played for 19 years in the big leagues. He didn’t play his first full season until the age of 26, but, thanks to the DH role, was able to keep playing until he was 43. Cruz was an outfielder for first half of his career, and established himself as an excellent power hitter who could also hit for average. He hit .332 with 33 bombs in 2009 with the Texas Rangers, and made his first of 7 All Star Teams. In 2014, the Baltimore Orioles tried him out as a DH in 89 games and his bat responded well as he crushed 40 home runs with 108 RBIs, finishing 7th for the MVP. From that point on, the DH was his primary position and he won 4 Silver Sluggers in the role while smashing 40+ home runs 3 more times with the Mariners and Twins. He ended up hitting 263 home runs as a DH, 4th all time, and with 464 total career homers, over 2,000 hits and .274 batting average, he’s got borderline Hall of Fame numbers, but a 2013 PED suspension will definitely keep him out.
6. Jim Thome
Thome came up as a third baseman with the Cleveland Indians in 1991 before moving over to 1st, where he played for many years. He was on-base machine who also had big power. Thome made three straight All Star teams in the mid-90’s and from 1994 to 2004, an 11 year period, he smashed an average of 38 home runs per season, with a maximum of 52 in 2002. Persistent back and elbow issues forced him to become a full time DH by 2006 and in that role, he continued to rake, crushing 42 homers with 109 RBIs for the White Sox, while making his 5th All Star Team. He hit between 20 and 35 homers on four more occasions as a full time DH. His biggest seasons came before the switch to DH, which is why he comes in a little lower on the list, but Thome played his final 7 seasons as a DH, allowing him to surpass 600 career homers. He made it into the Hall of Fame in 2018.
5. Harold Baines
Harold Baines played the majority of his 22 year career as a Designated Hitter. He had incredible consistency and longevity, much of it thanks to not having to play the field. Baines was an outfielder for 7 years with the White Sox and he consistently hit over 20 homers per season with an average around .300. He converted to a Designated Hitter in 1987 and continued the trend, hitting .293 with 20 homers. He won a Sliver Slugger in 1989, hitting .309 with the White Sox and Rangers, and went on the DH for the A’s, Orioles, and Indians, returning to the White Sox again twice. His piled up 1,039 RBIs as a DH, second all time, and smashed 384 career homers, 64% of them as a Designated Hitter. He’s also second all time in hits as a DH with 1,789. Baines was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019.
4. Paul Molitor
Up next is Paul Molitor, who didn’t become a full time DH until 1991, his 14th big league season. Before that, he played mostly third base but also some at second, shortstop and even the outfield. Entering the ‘91 season, he was a 3-time All Star who had hit over .300 6 times, including 1987 when he hit .353 with a league leading 41 doubles. But after converting to DH full-time, he had his best year, leading the league in hits, runs, and triples, while crushing 17 homers. In 1993, he hit a career high 22 home runs for the World Champion Toronto Blue Jays, and won a World Series MVP with a .500 batting average, 2 homers, and 8 RBIs in the series. As a DH, Molitor made 4 straight All Star teams, and in the strike-shortened 1994, he hit .341. In 1996 with the Twins, Molitor led the league with a career high 225 hits, hitting .341 again, this time over a full season, as he played in 161 games. He won two Silver Sluggers as a DH and retired with 3,319 hits, 1,613 as a DH, 4th all time, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004.
3. Edgar Martinez
Career Seattle Mariner, Edgar Martinez, came up as a sweet-swinging third baseman who could hit for average like few others while also supplying some power. He made his first All Star team in 1992 when he hit a league leading .343 with 46 doubles. He was a doubles machine and in 1995, his first year as a full time DH, he hit one of the famous doubles of all time in the 11th inning of Game 5 of the ALDS. That year, he led the league in doubles, runs, batting average, on-base-percentage, and OPS. As a Designated Hitter, Martinez just raked year in and year out, driving in over 100 runs in 6 out of 7 seasons, and he won 4 Silver Sluggers as a DH. He hit over .300 ten times in his career and retired as one of just 3 players with over 1,000 RBIs as a Designated Hitter. For his career, Martinez hit .312 with 309 homers and 2,247 hits. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019.
2. Frank Thomas
Coming in at #2 is the Big Hurt, Frank Thomas, who crushed 521 home runs in his career with a batting average of .301. He played 971 games as a first baseman, but even more – 1,404 games – as a Designated Hitter. Thomas debuted in 1990 and won back to back MVP awards in 1993 and 1994, quickly establishing himself as a premiere superstar. He made five straight All Star teams, and won a batting title with a .347 mark in 1997. Thomas was good for about 30 to 45 home runs every season. In 1998, he became a full time DH, and continued in the role for 11 years. In the year 2000, he crushed 43 homers with 143 RBIs, while hitting .328 with an OPS over 1.000, finishing second in the MVP race to Jason Giambi. He had another monster season in 2003, with 42 bombs and 105 RBIs. Then, with the A’s in 2006, had his last great year with 39 homers and 114 runs driven in. Frank Thomas is currently 2nd all time with 296 homers as a DH, although Shohei Ohtani will probably pass him next year. Thomas was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.
1. David Ortiz
But coming in at #1 as the greatest DH in the history of the game has to be Red Sox legend, David Ortiz, who was used as a DH from the beginning with the Minnesota Twins, although he also spent limited time at 1st base throughout his career. He put himself on the map as a superstar after being released by the Twins in 2002. He signed as a free agent with Boston and immediately hit .288 with 30 home runs, finishing 5th for the MVP. Big Papi had arrived and in 2004, he made his first of 10 All Star teams. Ortiz averaged 35 homers a year for 14 years with the Red Sox. He finished in the Top 10 for MVP 7 times, in the top 5 five times, and won a record 7 Silver Sluggers as a DH. He was a critical piece of three Red Sox championships – one in 2004 to break the Curse of the Bambino and then two more – in 2007 and 2013. He won an ALCS MVP in 2004 and a World Series MVP in 2013 when he hit .688 with 2 home runs and an OPS just short of 2.000, a legendary performance. He had multiple walk off homers and clutch hits in the postseason, and retired on the top of the list as a DH in multiple categories including RBIs, runs, hits, doubles, triples, homers, and walks. Ortiz is the only player with over 500 career home runs as a designated hitter – 521 of his 541 bombs came as a DH. So, it’s obvious why he comes in at #1.
And that’ll do it for today’s list, the final positional list, check out the playlist above for more of these rankings and what do you think of the DH list? Will we get more amazing Designated Hitters in the future now that it is in both leagues? Will Ohtani shatter all of Ortiz’s records someday? Let me know in the comment section down below and I look forward to talking to ya’ll in the next video.