Best designated hitters since 2020
Shohei Ohtani plays two positions, but he’s top-rated at this one
Shohei Ohtani is widely hailed as the greatest two-way player in baseball history — an outstanding slugger and a dominating pitcher.
But an elbow injury confined him to the first of his twin skills in 2024. He served solely as a designated hitter for the world champion Los Angeles Dodgers, flashing an unprecedented combination of power (54 home runs) and speed (59 stolen bases).
Ohtani’s five-year stats were nearly as good, earning him the distinction of being baseball’s best DH between 2020 and 2024.
Today’s rankings are confined to players who made at least 1,400 plate appearances during the five-year span and spent more than half of their games as designated hitters. (The statistics that I analyzed, however, encompassed their full records at all positions.)
My unit of measure is overall base value (OBV), which stacks a particular batter’s output against the performance level of an average major leaguer.
Ohtani, for instance, reached 1,930 bases for the Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels over the 2020-2024 period, encompassing all of his hits, walks, hit batters, stolen bases, and sacrifices. The typical major leaguer would have attained 1,238 bases under the same circumstances. Ohtani exceeded the norm by 692 bases, giving him an OBV of plus-692.
The runners-up in the DH rankings were Yordan Alvarez at plus-460 and Marcell Ozuna at plus-224. Alvarez played solely for the Houston Astros during the five-year span, Ozuna only for the Atlanta Braves.
Scroll down to see the half-decade’s 10 best designated hitters in the OBV rankings. Each is followed by parenthetical stats for 2020-2024 — games, home runs, runs batted in, and batting average — capped by his overall base value.
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Top 10 designated hitters (2020-2024)
1. Shohei Ohtani (G 650, HR 185, RBI 444, BA .280) — OBV +692
2. Yordan Alvarez (G 542, HR 137, RBI 388, BA .296) — OBV +460
3. Marcell Ozuna (G 538, HR 127, RBI 342, BA .273) — OBV +224
4. Brent Rooker (G 363, HR 79, RBI 204, BA .258) — OBV +145
5. J.D. Martinez (G 574, HR 100, RBI 360, BA .263) — OBV +129
6. Jorge Soler (G 543, HR 105, RBI 267, BA .233) — OBV +103
7. Andrew McCutchen (G 567, HR 86, RBI 276, BA .238) — OBV +89
8. Giancarlo Stanton (G 487, HR 121, RBI 318, BA .231) — OBV +84
9. Nelson Cruz (G 366, HR 63, RBI 206, BA .258) — OBV +51
10. Eloy Jimenez (G 412, HR 64, RBI 219, BA .269) — OBV +8