The OTBB Best DH in Baseball Draft- Results
Way back in December, Max Frankel, Sean Morash, and I decided to play a game called The DH Draft. We predicted who would be the best designated hitters in baseball. These didn’t need to be actual designated hitters, just players who were really good at hitting and bad at fielding. Even NL players could qualify if they fit the criteria, because they theoretically should be designated hitters.
The scoring system used FanGraphs’ overall “Off” and “Def” metrics. Players get a point for every run of offensive value and two points for every run of negative defensive value, or Off + 2(-Def). As a frame of reference for how this works, here are the top scorers this season:
| Player | Off | Def | Points |
| J.D. Martinez | 50.2 | -14.7 | 79.6 |
| Nicholas Castellanos | 27.8 | -20.7 | 69.2 |
| Christian Yelich | 58.4 | -5.1 | 68.6 |
| Bryce Harper | 29.9 | -18.1 | 66.1 |
| Paul Goldschmidt | 40.0 | -12.0 | 64.0 |
| Mike Trout | 71.1 | 4.2 | 62.7 |
There are a few different ways to rack up points. J.D. Martinez was one of the best hitters in baseball as well as an actual DH, so it makes sense that he’s #1. Castellanos and Harper benefit from good offense and terrible defense. Trout hit so well (of course) that he overcame negative points from positive defense (if that makes sense).
In spite of threats/promises to draft Babe Ruth, Rob Gronkowski, and Pope Francis, each of us drafted five actual living baseball players. On to the results!
Max’s Team
| Max’s Team | Points |
| Nelson Cruz | 47.3 |
| Kyle Schwarber | 1.7 |
| Charlie Blackmon | 35.4 |
| Khris Davis | 59.2 |
| Ryan Zimmerman | 14.1 |
| Total | 157.7 |
It was a mixed bag for Max, with a fantastic fourth round pick in Khris Davis. The MLB home run champion spent most of the year as the DH for Oakland. No complaints about first overall selection Nelson Cruz either, who played just 26 1/3 innings in the field all year and slashed .256/.342/.509. Blackmon’s poor center field defense helped quite a bit as well.
The Schwarber and Zimmerman selections really cost him though. Schwarber, generously listed at 6’0, 235 lb., actually played pretty well in left field for the Cubs. No one saw that coming from the lumbering former catcher. Zimmerman only played about half the year, dragging down his points.
Sean’s Team
| Sean’s Team | Points |
| Edwin Encarnacion | 33.9 |
| Mike Trout | 62.7 |
| Wil Myers | 11.6 |
| Joey Votto | 29.6 |
| Giancarlo Stanton | 33.4 |
| Total | 171.2 |
Trout was the best pick for Sean, because he’s somehow the best in the world at everything. (Trout, that is. Sean’s okay.) First round pick Encarnacion was sufficiently awful defensively, and mostly DH’d for Cleveland, but he failed to walk the parrot enough to rack up major offensive points. Stanton was a nice fifth round pick, but his offense wasn’t truly excellent and his defense wasn’t too bad.
Votto led the NL in on base percentage (.417), but still failed to do enough offensively. With just 12 home runs, his .419 slugging percentage was more than 100 points lower than is career average. Myers played just 83 games for the Padres, with injuries cutting his season short.
Dan’s Team
| Dan’s Team | Points |
| J.D. Martinez | 79.6 |
| Jose Altuve | 32.8 |
| Jose Abreu | 37.4 |
| Trey Mancini | 28.5 |
| Daniel Murphy | 15.4 |
| Total | 193.7 |
My team benefited heavily from Martinez, the #1 player in MLB under this scoring system who was still a free agent at the time of the draft. Abreu’s iron glove and acceptable bat was my second best player, while Altuve was right behind him with roughly average defense.
Mancini was actually a below average hitter, with just a .242/.299/.416 slash line. However, his defense in left field was so dreadful that he actually scored decent points for my team. Murphy was limited to 351 plate appearances, bringing down his value.
To recap, my team came in first place with 193.7 points, followed by Sean’s with 171.2 and Max’s 157.7. In other words, I won a game that I invented, moderated, and officiated, which I don’t think is obnoxious at all. I’d like to personally thank the Orioles for being so flagrantly terrible that they were forced to play Mancini in the field 138 times.
