Ranking the Best Designated Hitters in Seattle Mariners History

Mariners: Edgar Martinez 1995 ALDS — SEATTLE – OCTOBER 7: Edgar Martinez #11 of the Seattle Mariners hits a grand slam home run in the eighth inning of Game four of the 1995 American League Divisional Series against the New York Yankees at the Kingdome on October 7, 1995 in Seattle, Washington. The Mariners defeated the Yankees 11-8. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

This is it. The last of the hitters. We’ve gone all the way around the field, checking out the best of every position in the history of the Seattle Mariners. Some positions actually had a real discussion about who it was that was deserving of the top spot. Others, it was obvious.

For Designated Hitter… well, it’s pretty obvious as well. Can you really choose anyone either than the Greatest to not just do it for the Mariners, but the greatest Designated Hitter of all time?

Once you get past the two that are likely on the top of everyone’s mind, the pickings get a lot slimmer at DH. There just haven’t been great ones outside of those two. Part of it comes from a difficulty in breaking down who’s been there each year, since a lot of players have done it while splitting time with other spots around the field.

The other is, well, that the Mariners have just had a lot of not-great hitters throughout the years. It makes it hard to find a good DH when you’re constantly rotating through the position. So I’m not even gonna talk about the guys that barely missed making it into the top five. There aren’t enough, and when you have to start listing off guys with less than a 1.0 fWAR, it just isn’t that fun.

So here we go. At number 5, we look at one of the recent big boys/mashers that the Mariners have had who left only a few years ago.

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