Poll Time: Best DH in Blue Jays History

Jose easily won the right fielder vote. I’ll always have a fondness for Jesse Barfield, but Jose was the right choice.

The Blue Jays have had many DHes. In the early years, it was a spot for players at the end of their careers, and then, for a while there, it was a spot to get a young player into the lineup, while we tried to open a position for him.

• Ron Fairly: Our first DH. Only played with us in that first season, 1977, but he was our All-Star. He hit .279/.362/.465 with 19 home runs. He was 38 that season. He played 21 years in the MLB, 6 of them with the Expos.
• Rico Carty was a Jay for 2 seasons, his age 38 and 39 seasons, and then retired. He hit .269/.330/.432 in 236 games. He played 15 season in the majors. In the early days, of the DH rule, the DH was generally a player at the end of his career and that was part of how they sold the rule change to baseball fans. It was seen as a chance to extend the careers of fan favorites.
• Otto Velez was a Jay for 6 seasons. He didn’t just DH, he played some corner outfield and some first base, but was mostly DH. He hit .257/.372/.461 with 72 homers in 522 games.
• Cliff Johnson had two stints with the Jays, playing 4 seasons with us. He was part of our first playoff team. He hit .273/.372/.466 with 54 home runs in 400 games. He platooned with Al Oliver when we made it to the playoffs in 1985.
• Fred McGriff spent a season as our DH, but he was mostly a first baseman, so I’m not going to list him on the poll. When he came up, Willie Upshaw was our first baseman. Upshaw was traded after the season.
• Rance Mulliniks also spent a season or two as our DH, but he was mostly a third baseman.
• And, like McGriff, John Olerud DHed his first season with us, before we moved McGriff in the trade for Alomar and Carter.
• Dave Winfield spent one season as our DH, helping us to our first World Series win. He hit .290/.377/.491 with 26 home runs in 156 games. He was 5th in MVP voting. When he was a Yankees George Stenbreinner made fun of him for not hitting in the playoffs, so when he hit .250/.357/.542 for us, against Oakland, in the 1992 ALCS, it was a big deal. He didn’t do as well in the World Series, .227/.292/.273.
• Paul Molitor was our DH for 3 seasons. He hit .315/.387/.484 in 405 games and got his only World Series ring with us in 1993. He was the World Series MVP. I remember him having tears in his eyes after the win. He was second in AL MVP voting that year and made the All-Star team in 2 of his 3 years with the Jays.
• Carlos Delgado was DH his first full season with the team, but he was mostly a first baseman.
• Jose Canseco, the poster boy for PEDs was a Jay for one season. He hit .237/.318/.518 with 46 home runs. He also had 29 steals, but was caught 17 times. We would have been better off if manager Tim Johnson told him not to steal.
• Brad Fullmer DHed for us for 2 seasons. He hit .284/.333/.499 with 50 home runs in 279 games.
• Josh Phelps was for parts of 3 season. He hit .266/.337/.473 with 47 home runs in 281 games. He was our of catcher of the future at one time, that didn’t work out, but he had a lot of power.
• Frank Thomas had 1 good season as DH, then started the next season off slowly and was soon released. He hit .266/.369/.465 with 29 home runs.
• Matt Stairs did a bit of everything for us, playing right and left field and first, but he played a fair bit of DH after Thomas was released. As a Jay he hit .270/.2356/.476 with 32 home runs. He was a lot of fun to have on the team.
• Adam Lind was a favorite of mine. He was a Jay for 9 seasons, and they tried to make him a left fielder and then tried to make him a first baseman. But his best spot was DH. He hit .273/.327/.466 with 146 home runs as a Blue Jay in 953 games.
• Edwin Encarnacion played 8 seasons with us. He played a fair bit of third and first base, but I think of him as a DH. He wasn’t loved early in his time as a Jay, but became a favorite. Funny how hitting 40 home runs a year can turn someone into a fan favorite. He hit .268/.355/.522 with 239 home runs in 999 games.
• Kendrys Morales hit .250/.308/.445 with 28 home runs this season.