J.D. Martinez
Position: Starting Designated Hitter
This was supposed to be a tightly contested race at the DH position but that hasn’t been the case. Stanton has been a mild disappointment for the Yankees, drawing as many boos from the Bronx crowd as votes. The injury to rookie phenom Shohei Ohtani took the sails out of his growing momentum, preventing fans in Japan from potentially hijacking the vote.
That leaves Martinez as the clear winner. What he lacks in defensive and baserunning skills, he makes up for with what a DH should do best. Martinez has been the best hitter in baseball this season.
Martinez leads the majors with 25 home runs and 67 RBI. He’s the first Red Sox hitter to collect that many home runs before the end of June and is on pace to challenge David Ortiz‘ single-season franchise record.
Power isn’t the only aspect of his game. Martinez can hit for average, ranking fourth in the league with a .327 AVG. He’s third with a 1.033 OPS, .431 wOBA and 176 wRC+. His bat provides so much value that he’s 12th in the league with a 3.3 WAR despite adding little value on defense or on the bases.