DH · 46 rankedLast updated Jul 18, 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, Kyle Schwarber, 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	0.293	0.952	22	58	6	17.1%	93.6
2	98	Yordan Alvarez	Astros	0.318	1.059	31	70	1	18.7%	94.7
3	91	Kyle Schwarber	Phillies	0.254	0.925	32	59	2	19.4%	93.4
4	91	Yandy Díaz	Rays	0.322	0.888	13	55	1	7.1%	91.1
5	86	Iván Herrera	Cardinals	0.249	0.771	11	40	5	5.8%	89.2
6	85	Bryce Eldridge	Giants	0.271	0.832	8	20	0	12.5%	92.3
7	83	Dominic Canzone	Mariners	0.264	0.864	15	40	1	15.3%	92.8
8	83	Giancarlo Stanton	Yankees	0.256	0.724	3	14	1	18.0%	94.1
9	82	Joc Pederson	Rangers	0.235	0.796	15	34	1	11.2%	91.9
10	81	Samad Taylor	Padres	0.330	0.808	1	11	6	3.3%	85.2
11	80	Michael Conforto	Cubs	0.243	0.817	8	22	1	12.8%	92.4
12	80	Nathaniel Lowe	Reds	0.247	0.800	10	26	0	11.3%	88.8
13	80	Randal Grichuk	White Sox	0.248	0.796	9	23	0	13.3%	90.6
14	77	Josh Bell	Twins	0.248	0.736	13	60	1	10.6%	89.9
15	76	Marcell Ozuna	Pirates	0.205	0.623	8	28	0	9.0%	89.7
16	75	Christian Yelich	Brewers	0.243	0.706	6	31	6	7.3%	89.0
17	75	Romy Gonzalez	Red Sox	0.231	0.687	1	5	0	4.0%	86.8
18	74	George Springer	Blue Jays	0.218	0.677	9	22	6	8.0%	88.4
19	73	Andrew Benintendi	White Sox	0.242	0.730	10	46	1	9.8%	89.2
20	72	Masataka Yoshida	Red Sox	0.264	0.725	3	16	2	2.6%	88.9
21	71	José Tena	Nationals	0.241	0.718	5	20	3	8.8%	91.9
22	70	Brent Rooker	Athletics	0.200	0.670	10	29	2	15.5%	89.9
23	69	Moisés Ballesteros	Iowa Cubs	0.231	0.688	6	23	1	9.1%	90.1
24	67	Dominic Smith	Braves	0.263	0.703	6	35	0	6.1%	87.8
25	66	José Azócar	Gwinnett Stripers	0.353	0.860	0	0	1	0.0%	87.3
26	65	Gage Workman	Toledo Mud Hens	0.158	0.553	2	5	0	22.7%	94.2
27	65	Miguel Andujar	Padres	0.260	0.719	5	21	2	4.2%	88.3
28	64	Jorge Soler	Angels	0.210	0.684	11	42	0	11.7%	88.2
29	64	Jahmai Jones	Red Sox	0.137	0.440	2	7	0	8.3%	90.9
30	63	MJ Melendez	Syracuse Mets	0.192	0.665	4	11	0	11.1%	94.2
31	63	Stuart Fairchild	Tacoma Rainiers	0.158	0.565	0	1	2	0.0%	94.2
32	63	Luken Baker	Reno Aces	0.200	0.400	0	0	0	—	—
33	63	Eugenio Suárez	Reds	0.208	0.673	11	35	0	9.3%	87.9
34	63	Will Wagner	El Paso Chihuahuas	0.257	0.708	0	0	0	0.0%	81.9
35	62	Tyler Black	Nashville Sounds	0.333	0.838	0	7	0	0.0%	83.6
36	61	Nick Solak	El Paso Chihuahuas	0.143	0.443	0	1	0	12.5%	90.2
37	61	Eloy Jiménez	Buffalo Bisons	0.290	0.633	0	3	0	4.0%	89.2
38	60	Braxton Fulford	Rockies	0.193	0.589	1	7	4	9.4%	86.5
39	59	Bryan De La Cruz	Phillies	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
40	59	Gustavo Campero	Angels	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
41	58	Nicky Lopez	Rangers	0.310	0.706	1	12	4	0.0%	84.8
42	57	Dylan Carlson	Lehigh Valley IronPigs	0.000	0.000	0	0	0	—	—
43	57	Jose Fernandez	Reno Aces	0.255	0.641	3	15	7	3.9%	87.9
44	55	Johan Rojas	Phillies	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
45	55	Eric Haase	Giants	0.162	0.600	4	9	0	16.3%	86.0
46	55	Chadwick Tromp	Norfolk Tides	0.250	0.527	0	4	0	0.0%	85.9

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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