DH · 46 rankedLast updated Jul 5, 2026

Best Designated Hitters in MLB 2026

Shohei Ohtani is the highest-rated designated hitter in MLB 2026 on Legends Deck. The top three are Shohei Ohtani, Yordan Alvarez, Iván Herrera, ranked by a percentile transform of real 2026 Statcast data from Baseball Savant.

Every active MLB designated hitter ranked by Legends Deck card rating — built from real 2026 Statcast data from Baseball Savant through the same calibrated pipeline for every player. Ratings refresh nightly.

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Step in against MLB's designated hitters leaders — play a half-inning

Judge, Soto, and Ohtani lead off vs. a Cy Young CPU pitcher. Three outs or three runs — whichever comes first. Real Statcast pitch-by-pitch sim, ~30 seconds. No download, no signup, no card pack to open.

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#	OVR	Player	Team	AVG	OPS	HR	RBI	SB	Barrel%	Exit Velo
1	100	Shohei Ohtani	Dodgers	0.288	0.927	18	50	6	16.1%	93.6
2	89	Yordan Alvarez	Astros	0.319	1.056	27	61	1	19.0%	94.6
3	84	Iván Herrera	Cardinals	0.258	0.802	10	38	5	6.5%	89.5
4	83	Yandy Díaz	Rays	0.325	0.903	12	53	1	7.3%	91.0
5	79	Kyle Schwarber	Phillies	0.250	0.935	30	55	2	19.8%	93.3
6	75	Dominic Canzone	Mariners	0.269	0.881	13	34	1	15.7%	93.2
7	74	Joc Pederson	Rangers	0.240	0.809	14	31	0	11.6%	92.1
8	74	Michael Conforto	Cubs	0.240	0.821	7	21	1	14.6%	92.8
9	74	Randal Grichuk	White Sox	0.261	0.849	9	23	0	15.4%	90.5
10	73	Marcell Ozuna	Pirates	0.202	0.610	7	26	0	8.8%	89.6
11	72	Josh Bell	Twins	0.241	0.708	11	56	1	10.5%	89.5
12	71	George Springer	Blue Jays	0.221	0.681	8	21	6	7.4%	88.2
13	71	Brent Rooker	Athletics	0.200	0.670	10	29	2	15.5%	89.9
14	70	Nathaniel Lowe	Reds	0.253	0.809	9	25	0	11.1%	88.7
15	70	Giancarlo Stanton	Yankees	0.256	0.724	3	14	1	18.0%	94.1
16	68	Bryce Eldridge	Giants	0.276	0.829	6	17	0	11.5%	92.2
17	67	Masataka Yoshida	Red Sox	0.250	0.681	2	11	2	2.1%	88.6
18	67	Jahmai Jones	Tigers	0.140	0.449	2	7	0	8.5%	90.9
19	65	Moisés Ballesteros	Cubs	0.231	0.688	6	23	1	9.1%	90.1
20	63	Christian Yelich	Brewers	0.248	0.712	5	26	6	7.4%	88.9
21	63	Adrian Del Castillo	Diamondbacks	0.182	0.533	4	20	0	5.9%	89.4
22	62	Andrew Benintendi	White Sox	0.240	0.723	10	40	1	10.1%	89.3
23	61	Jorge Soler	Angels	0.221	0.713	11	37	0	10.9%	88.3
24	61	Miguel Andujar	Padres	0.264	0.724	5	19	2	4.5%	88.3
25	60	Rob Refsnyder	Mariners	0.133	0.422	3	9	0	6.5%	86.1
26	60	Gustavo Campero	Angels	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
27	60	Kris Bryant	Rockies	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
28	60	Johan Rojas	Phillies	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
29	60	MJ Melendez	Mets	0.192	0.665	4	11	0	11.1%	94.2
30	60	Pavin Smith	Diamondbacks	0.152	0.472	1	6	1	3.7%	85.4
31	60	Kyle Farmer	Braves	0.286	0.624	0	3	0	0.0%	81.6
32	60	DaShawn Keirsey Jr.	Braves	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
33	60	Eric Haase	Giants	0.182	0.648	4	9	0	15.6%	85.7
34	60	Braxton Fulford	Rockies	0.200	0.629	1	7	4	8.0%	88.4
35	60	Will Wilson	Mariners	0.200	1.133	1	2	0	—	—
36	60	Gage Workman	Tigers	0.158	0.553	2	5	0	22.7%	94.2
37	60	Oliver Dunn	Rays	0.091	0.258	0	1	0	0.0%	82.6
38	60	Nicky Lopez	Rangers	0.327	0.737	1	9	4	0.0%	84.8
39	60	Samad Taylor	Padres	0.329	0.817	1	11	6	3.5%	84.8
40	60	Eugenio Suarez	Reds	0.204	0.643	8	29	0	7.8%	86.9
41	60	Will Wagner	Padres	0.257	0.708	0	0	0	0.0%	81.9
42	60	Tyler Black	Brewers	0.333	0.838	0	7	0	0.0%	83.6
43	60	Kevin Alcántara	Cubs	0.231	0.517	0	1	0	0.0%	89.3
44	60	José Tena	Nationals	0.224	0.669	4	18	2	9.3%	92.0
45	60	Jose Fernandez	Diamondbacks	0.255	0.641	3	15	7	3.9%	87.9
46	60	Dominic Smith	Braves	0.272	0.722	6	35	0	6.7%	87.8

How this leaderboard is built

Legends Deck rates every designated hitter using real 2026 Statcast data. For hitters, that means the key inputs are exit velocity, barrel rate, xwOBA, sprint speed, whiff rate, and chase rate. No scout opinions, no card-by-card tuning — the same fixed pipeline for every player.

Full methodology: How Legends Deck card ratings work. Or read the ranked breakdown: Best Designated Hitters in MLB 2026.

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