Boston Red Sox Must Change Their Philosophy on Designated Hitters

With a league-high four World Series titles since 2000, the Boston Red Sox have been one of the most successful franchises in Major League Baseball over the last 26 years. In each of the Red Sox World Series-winning seasons, there has been one common denominator: an All-Star designated hitter in the heart of the lineup. 

From 2003 to 2016, Boston's designated hitters, led by Hall of Famer David Ortiz, led the league in batting average (.283), on-base percentage (.378), slugging percentage (.546), OPS (.924), home runs (520), and weighted runs created plus (139). As a result, the Boston offense was consistently among the best in baseball in four categories crucial to winning the World Series: runs scored, home runs, OPS, and wRC+. 

When Ortiz retired after the 2016 season, Boston turned to veteran slugger Hanley Ramirez to fill the void. Ramirez struggled in that role, and the Red Sox saw both their production from the position and overall offensive output dip significantly, falling well outside the top 10 in home runs, OPS, and wRC+, while their 785 runs scored ranked 10th.

With a clear need to replace the production Ortiz left behind, then-President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski hit the free-agent market and signed the best available designated hitter, J.D. Martinez, to a five-year, $110-million deal. With Martinez solidifying the DH spot in 2018, the Red Sox again rose to one of baseball's best offenses, ranking first in runs (876), ninth in home runs (208), first in OPS (.792), and fourth in wRC+ (111), en route to the fourth World Series title in 14 years. 

Throughout Martinez's five-year tenure in Boston, the team's designated hitters ranked in the top 10 in baseball in batting average (.284, 1st), on-base percentage (.358, 1st), slugging percentage (.510, 1st), OPS (.868, 1st), home runs (147, 7th), and wRC+ (129, 2nd). As such, the Red Sox offense ranked at the top of the league in those same categories: batting average (.264, 1st), on-base percentage (.332, 3rd), slugging percentage (.445, 3rd), OPS (.777, 3rd), home runs (908, 8th), and wRC+ (106, 4th), while scoring 3,633 runs, the second-most in baseball. 

After Martinez's departure, the Red Sox changed their philosophy on the designated hitter role under both former Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom and current CBO Craig Breslow. Instead of seeing the position as one player's role, the team cycled position players through it, getting them mostly off their feet for the day without completely losing their bats in the lineup. 

In 2023 and 2024, the Red Sox designated hitters still performed well but saw a noticeable drop in production, ranking in the top 10 in batting average (.264, 4th), on-base percentage (.334, 8th), and slugging percentage (.421, 10th). As a result, Red Sox offensive production dipped from nearly top five in baseball across the board to top 10-15. 

Ahead of the 2025 season, with Gold Glove third baseman Alex Bregman in the fold, the Red Sox made the decision to move slugger Rafael Devers to full-time DH, the first in a long line of moves that deteriorated the relationship between the two sides. Devers thrived in his new role, hitting .272/.401/.504/.905 with 15 home runs and 58 RBI in 73 games. In that stretch, Boston's offense ranked top 10 in batting average (.253, 8th), on-base percentage (.328, 6th), slugging percentage (.422, 5th), runs scored (353, 5th), home runs (89, 9th), and wRC+ (106, 7th).

Of course, the relationship between Devers and the team soured beyond repair, and the team traded him to the San Francisco Giants on June 15, 2025. Since then, the Boston offense has struggled mightily to replace his production. In the 251 games the Red Sox have played since Devers, the team ranks 17th in runs scored (1122), 26th in home runs (260), 15th in slugging percentage (.406), and 15th in wRC+ (100). 

It was a particularly rough 2026 season for Boston designated hitters, most often Masataka Yoshida, Jarren Duran, or Roman Anthony. Red Sox DH's ranked outside the top 10 in batting average (.249, 11th), on-base percentage (.328, T-11th), slugging percentage (.416, 14th), home runs (20, T-21st),  and wRC+ (106, 12th). 

Overall, the team finished well outside the top 10 in those four key statistics that tend to lead to postseason success: 23rd in runs (689), 26th in home runs (163), 19th in OPS (717), and 17th in wRC+ (99). 

As noted by Red Sox Stats on Twitter/X, over 19 seasons with either Ortiz or Martinez as the team's designated hitter, the Red Sox have won 62 playoff games, averaging 3.26 per season. In eight seasons with neither occupying the position, the team has won just two playoff games, or 0.25 per season. 

With a clear need for power in the heart of the order, Breslow should return to what has historically made the Red Sox a championship-caliber team and acquire an All-Star-caliber slugger as the full-time designated hitter.