There was a long stretch of Red Sox history in which you could roll into spring training and write down the guy who would dominate the DH position in permanent ink.
For 14 years from 2003 through 2016, it belonged to David Ortiz. Then, after he retired and the Sox tried Hanley Ramirez there for a season in 2017, J.D. Martinez took over and led the team in games played from the position for five years from 2018 through 2022. Basically, if you wanted to get in the lineup and your last name didn’t end in a z, you’d better have a glove, and you better have spot where you could play every day.
But those days, much like the balls those guys hit, are long gone. Starting with Martinez’s final year in Boston in 2022, the Red Sox have now had four different guys lead the team in games from the DH slot in the last four seasons. And given the makeup of this roster going into 2026, we might be about to go five-for-five.
First up, here’s the guys who have played the most games at DH for the Red Sox over the last four years:
- 2022: J.D. Martinez (139 games)
- 2023: Justin Turner (98 games)
- 2024: Masataka Yoshida (101 games)
- 2025: Rafael Devers (RIP) (73 games)
Secondly, as a quick side note, not have having a permanent DH really changes the way you build a roster. Back in the days of Ortiz and Martinez, any other everyday position player signed or traded for had to make sense in some specific spot. But now, you can have overflow — because hey, “if both guys are good and you have extra at-bats, the other guy can just DH. Problem solved!”
Well, Craig Breslow and company have taken that theory and pushed it to its limit as, right now, I don’t have a clue who is going to get the most at-bats at DH in 2026.
It could be Jarren Duran, who might get displaced from the outfield for most of the season if Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Wilyer Abreu stay healthy and anchor down at their positions.
It could be Masataka Yoshida, who, if healthy, may bounce back offensively and doesn’t have anywhere to go defensively on this roster.
It could be Triston Casas, who still has serious upside power after a pair of injury plagued seasons and is now a less obvious fit at first base with Willson Contreras on the roster.
It could even be Kristian Campbell, who, unlike the other three guys I just mentioned, is right handed. He might work his way into the lineup against left-handed starters if his retooled swing sticks better than his glove at any one position.
Or who knows — it could be somebody else who gets shuffled in the deck we’re not even thinking about right now. Who do you think will lead the 2026 Red Sox in games played at DH?
Talk about this and whatever else you’d like, and, as always, be good to one another.
