Designated Hitter

April rankings:

1. Hanley Ramirez, Red Sox
2. Mark Trumbo, Orioles
3. Kendrys Morales, Blue Jays
4. Matt Holliday, Yankees
5. Corey Dickerson, Rays

Four teams in the division ranked in the top six in the AL in OPS from their designated hitters. The exception was the Orioles, who placed a distant 14th with a .668 OPS. That’s probably not a surprise to Orioles fans who witnessed Trumbo’s season-long struggles.

Boston and Toronto each had a regular DH — Ramirez and Morales, respectively — and they put up nearly identical numbers. Morales had a bit more power (28 homers, 85 RBIs to Ramirez’s 23 and 62) while Ramirez led in OBP (.320 to .308). I’ll give Morales the edge because of durability; he played 150 games to Ramirez’s 133.

The Yankees and Rays, on the other hand, cobbled together a patchwork crew, with 10 starting designated hitters apiece. The Yankees got some early-season production from the 37-year-old Holliday, but he was limited to 105 games after being diagnosed with the Epstein-Barr virus, an infection that drained him of energy.

For Tampa Bay, Dickerson oddly had the most starts at DH (52) even though he also had the most starts in left field (87). Nobody else started more than 24 games at DH for the Rays.

End-of-season rankings:

1. Morales, Blue Jays
2. Ramirez, Red Sox
3. Holliday and a slew of others, Yankees
4. Dickerson and a slew of others, Rays
5. Trumbo, Orioles

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