Brandon Brown
Please give your rapt attention to the opening lines of Major League Baseball official rule 5.11(a):
“A batter may be designated to strike out for the starting pitcher and all subsequent pitchers in any game without otherwise affecting the status of the pitcher(s) in the game.”
Yes, that’s the designated hitter rule, which has been a consistently divisive part of the MLB since 1973. For years, the DH government was, of course, the exclusive domain of the American League. However, the 2020 season, compromised by the pandemic, gave us a taste of the universal DH. The current collective bargaining agreement, which went into effect ahead of the 2022 season, has made the DH a permanent presence in both the AL and NL, and that’s where we are today.
The loud complaints from veteran fans about the adoption of the DH in both leagues have largely died down, as these things often do. That means there’s only one initiation rite left to perform: a DH winning the Most Valuable Player award.
This is logical, of course. The reality is that DHs don’t play defense and this reduces their overall value. By extension, the offensive bar is higher for DHs than for fielding hitters. Furthermore, MVP voters, likely in substantial numbers, could impose an informal penalty on DH candidates when it comes time to fill out those ballots. Presumably there is some level of offensive production that could earn a DH the award, but we haven’t seen that yet. We have given the MVP award to pitchers on numerous occasions – including three relievers – but until now such special consideration has not been given to a DH. Heck, a primary DH has even won a Gold Glove Award—Rafael Palmeiro in 1999 earned the honor as a first baseman, even though he only logged 28 games at the position, compared to 128 as a DH.
As you’ve probably already guessed, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is sparking this particular conversation. Ohtani himself won two MVP awards while he was the primary DH. However, if he hadn’t also been an excellent starting pitcher in those two seasons, he wouldn’t have won the award. So while Ohtani did indeed claim MVP laurels as a DH, being a DH was roughly half of what he did to earn them.
Given that Ohtani is deeply familiar with things in baseball that have never been done before, it’s important to note that this season he may indeed become that elusive DH MVP. That’s because he’s not pitching in his first season with the Dodgers while he recovers from elbow surgery. He is, however, continuing to be perhaps the best pure hitter in baseball. As of this writing, Ohtani is slashing .348/.418/.641, which results in an NL-leading OPS+ of 198. He also has 13 homers, leads the majors in total bases, and is second in hits behind Luis Arraez. Oh, and on top of that he stole 13 bases without getting caught. He has the second-best NL MVP odds behind teammate Mookie Betts.
Will this type of clip be enough to earn him the NL MVP award in 2024? Of course, that’s unknowable at this point, but perhaps a look back at how DHs fared in MVP voting could be enlightening. There are a few ways to do this. The first is to look at the players who won the MVP award, apparently despite logging significant time at DH.
Part-time DHs who won the hardware
Only three players logged significant time as a designated hitter in the same season they won the MVP award (this, again, is not counting Ohtani’s pair of MVP campaigns for the reasons already stated). The first was Red Sox slugger Jim Rice in 1978, who racked up more than 400 total bases and handily outperformed Yankees ace Ron Guidry in that year’s voting. Rice was the primary left fielder that season. However, he also made 49 starts at DH, which is about 30% of his games played out of 78. Coincidentally, Rice the previous year was named Designated Hitter of the Year (now known as the Edgar Martinez Award), as Sox legend Carl Yastrzemski was still around and manning left field in 1977. By 1978, however, Rice had established himself as a Boston regular. left defender.
The following year, Don Baylor won the MVP and spent even more time at DH than Rice. Like Rice, Baylor was primarily a left fielder in his MVP season, but logged 65 DH games for the Angels that year, or just over 40% of their total games played. Baylor edged out Ken Singleton of the Orioles and George Brett of the Royals in the voting, in part because he achieved the rare feat of leading the majors in RBI and runs scored in the same season.
Finally we have Juan Gonzalez. The Rangers’ ribbie-smith won the first of his two MVPs in 1996, thanks in large part to his 47 home runs and 144 RBI. Juan Gone typically patrolled right field at Texas, and that was the case in ’96. He did, however, play 32 of his 134 games, or 23.9%, as a DH. And that’s it. Baylor is still the closest thing to an MVP-winning DH, and that was half a century ago.
Now let’s take a look at the actual DHs who got notable MVP support.
Primary DHs who came closest to winning the MVP
On seven occasions, a primary DH – that is, one who played the majority of his games that season as his team’s designated hitter – finished second or third in MVP voting. Let’s summarize it in chronological order, just like in the phone book:
- 1991: Frank Thomas, White Sox, finished third in voting (180 OPS+, 32 home runs, 138 walks, 7.0 WAR)
- 1993: Paul Molitor, Blue Jays, finished second in voting (211 hits, 143 OPS+, 324 total bases, 22 steals, 5.6 WAR)
- 1995: Edgar Martinez, Mariners, finished third in voting (.356/.479/.628, 52 doubles, 116 walks, 7.0 WAR)
- 2000: Frank Thomas, White Sox, finished second in the voting (.328/.436/.625, 43 homers, 364 total bases, 6.0 WAR)
- 2005: David Ortiz, Red Sox, finished second in voting (158 OPS+, 88 extra-base hits, 5.2 WAR)
- 2006, David Ortiz, Red Sox, finished third in voting (54 homers, 119 walks, 355 total bases, 5.8 WAR)
- 2014: Victor Martinez, Tigers, finished second in voting (172 OPS+, 32 home runs, 5.5 WAR)
- 2022: Yordan Alvarez, Astros, finished third in voting (188 OPS+, 37 home runs, 6.8 WAR)
Although Edgar Martinez finished third in ’95 behind Mo Vaughn and Albert Belle, he managed to get four first-place votes. Meanwhile, Thomas got 10 first-place votes in 2000. (Thomas was a two-time AL MVP but was the starting first baseman in each of those seasons.) That year’s winner, Jason Giambi, got 14. The o The record for “Most first-place MVP votes for a DH, non-Ohtani division” belongs to Ortiz in 2005, when he got 11 of them. The winner, A-Rod, had 16. Victor Martinez’s second-place finish in 2014 wasn’t particularly close, as Mike Trout was the unanimous choice for MVP.
Other considerations
Although the DHs were not honored with regular season MVP plaudits, they did win the World Series MVP. Specifically, three DHs earned individual honors in the Fall Classic: Molitor with the Blue Jays in 1993, Hideki Matsui with the Yankees in 2009 and Ortiz with the Red Sox in 2013. It’s a logical disconnect. If a DH can hit well enough to overcome his lack of defensive responsibilities and win World Series MVP, then why can’t he do the same in the regular season?
He can, presumably, since DHs have received first-place MVP votes before, as noted above. Instead, the collective mind of voters likely decided that no DH in the regular season produced at a level sufficient to make him more valuable than all of his league peers. So it’s less a case of “DHs are informally barred from winning the MVP” than “no DH thus far has hit well enough to deserve the MVP.” You may dispute the accuracy of this last stance, but it appears to be the working theory.
It’s also important to note that the BBWAA’s voting body has changed significantly over the years, and these changes have generally generated more open-mindedness on issues like these. If Ohtani or some other DH hits enough to make him the most valuable player in a given season, then voters will likely treat him as such.
This brings us full circle to Ohtani. Specifically, this brings us to the current National League WAR leaderboard:
As you can see, Ohtani is behind Betts, who is putting up his usual excellent numbers at the plate while also playing shortstop. Ohtani, however, is right, and considering that his numbers are backed by elite contact quality indicators and that he will not be fatigued in the future by his pitching duties, he intends to continue producing at the best level possible. -class level. Barring injury, Ohtani, it says here, will stage the greatest offensive WAR ever for a DH, and as such, you can expect some MVP support to accrue to him.
Will it be enough to make Ohtani the first DH to win MVP? This has never happened before, but Ohtani is deeply familiar with doing things that have never been done before.
