Blue Jays: Top ten designated hitters in franchise history

The Blue Jays have had some very productive designated hitters over the years. Let’s have a look at who might top the list of the best DH in franchise history.

As we continue to wait for baseball to return in North America, I can’t help but look back and think about teams and players of the past. And as I’ve done with building the ultimate, all-time Blue Jays lineup, and then the same for a pitching staff, I can’t help but do some rankings while I’m reminiscing.

With that in mind, I thought it might be fun to look back at the best designated hitters the Blue Jays have employed over the years, and do a quick little ranking on them as well. I’ll be using a very imperfect system (my own opinion), and largely basing it on what they did as a designated hitter for the Blue Jays, ignoring any defensive value they may or may not have brought with them. I’ll provide the numbers from their peak season, and in some cases, that one year will be where I’m basing all of the value they brought to the blue birds.

There are plenty of familiar names on the list, and maybe a couple that could surprise you as well. I did make sure to go back and look at the numbers from every season from 1977 up to the present, and as always I’ve done my best to avoid recency bias as much as I can.

I’ll count them down from 10, saving the best for last, and of course, you’re more than welcome to tell me how wrong I am in the comments section below.

Beginning or Finishing a Career as a DH

7- Carlos Delgado
1996 Stats: .270/.353/.490, 25 HR, 28 doubles 92 RBI, 1.8 bWAR

It took a while before Carlos Delgado settled in as a first baseman. He came up as a catcher to start with, the Blue Jays tried him in the outfield, and for one season in 1996 he was even used as a primary DH most of the time, which is why I included him on the list. It didn’t matter how big his prospect status was at the time, he wasn’t going to take John Olerud’s job.

1996 was Delgado’s first real breakout season as a big leaguer though, and by 1997 he took over at first base for the departed Olerud and never looked back.

6- Frank Thomas 
2007 Stats: .277/.377/.480, 26 HR, 30 doubles, 95 RBI, 2.2 bWAR

The relationship sure ended on a sour note, but for a while the marriage between Frank Thomas and the Blue Jays was an unexpected success. He arrived in Toronto as a 39-year-old and had a bit of a revival after the White Sox had let him go. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to keep up the same level of production in 2008, and when his at-bats started to diminish, that’s when the Blue Jays decided to release the dissatisfied future Hall of Famer. He went on to play another 55 games with the Oakland A’s, and retired at the end of the 2008 campaign.

5- Rance Mulliniks 
1988 Stats: .300/.395/.475, 12 HR, 21 doubles, 48 RBI, 2.3 bWAR

Rance Mulliniks had been a productive third baseman for most of his career, but by 1988 the Blue Jays started using him as the primary DH, where he appeared in 107 games that season.

He didn’t have the gaudy power numbers that some of the others put up, but Mulliniks was a quality veteran hitter, and an underrated contributor from the Blue Jays teams of the 80’s.

And then there were four

4- Adam Lind
2009 Stats: .305/.370/.562, 35 HR, 46 doubles, 114 RBI, 3.9 bWAR

It really looked like the Blue Jays had something special with the duo of Adam Lind and Aaron Hill at one point. However, they eventually served as another reminder about how quickly things can change in Major League Baseball.

At his best, Lind was a Silver Slugger award winner, and for good reason. His peak season in 2009 was a clinic in hitting as a 25 year old, and he even finished 15th in MVP voting.

3- Dave Winfield
1992 Stats: .290/.377/.491, 26 HR, 33 doubles, 108 RBI, 4.1 bWAR

I debated putting Winfield lower on the list since he only played the one season in Toronto, but what could be a more important impact than helping a franchise win their first championship?

Winfield rolled back the clock and put up his best numbers since 1988, serving as a crucial veteran presence in the middle of the lineup, and in the locker room, and it’s hard to imagine that first World Series victory without him.

2- Edwin Encarnacion
2012 Stats: .280/.384/.557, 42 HR, 24 doubles, 110 RBI, 5.0 bWAR

Just as I considered “punishing” Winfield for only playing one season with the Blue Jays, I almost moved Edwin Encarnacion to the top of the list because of his longevity. However, I ended up putting him in a still very respectable second place, and I hope you’ll forgive me if you disagree.

“Edwing” was a fan favourite in Toronto for most of his tenure from 2009-2016, culminating in an iconic home run to walk-off the Baltimore Orioles in the 2016 Wild Card game. He may be playing in another jersey, but Encarnacion will always be a Blue Jay to us.

Last but not least

1- Paul Molitor
1993 Stats: .332/.402/.509, 22 HR, 37 doubles, 111 RBI, 22 stolen bases, 5.6 bWAR

If Encarnacion isn’t at the top of the list, it shouldn’t surprise you to see Molitor’s name here. It wasn’t easy for me to put him ahead of ‘EE’ either, but the Hall of Famer was pretty spectacular during his time in Toronto.

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Speaking of not easy, I was really upset when the Blue Jays decided to let Dave Winfield become a Minnesota Twin before the 1993 season, and it took a while before I warmed up to Molitor. However, you couldn’t argue with the results on the field, and somehow he even became an upgrade at the DH position.

Folks often forget how good Molitor continued to be as a Blue Jay after that 1993 campaign, mostly because we lost a lot of games in both 1994 and 1995 because of the strike that bled into both seasons. However, when you add up the 405 games he played as a Blue Jay, he ended up slashing .315/.387/.484 with 51 home runs, 98 doubles, 246 RBI, and 54 stolen bases. When you consider that he did that in his age 36-38 seasons, it’s all that much more impressive.

So, how do you think I did? Is there anyone missing from the bottom of the list that you would have included? How about the top, should Encarnacion have led the group? We’re happy to hear from you as always in the comments section below.