New York Yankees: How do Yanks stack up against top AL contenders?

Designated Hitters

1. Giancarlo Stanton (NYY) – 4 points
2. J.D. Martinez (BOS) – 3 points
3. Edwin Encarnacion (CLE) – 2 points
4. Evan Gattis (HOU) – 1 point

As American League contenders, we have to factor in the designated hitter position and this is a very talented group.

Giancarlo Stanton is the reigning NL MVP and now brings his baseball mashing talents to the AL. Stanton finally stayed healthy in 2017 which allowed him to turn in the best season of his career. In 159 games, Stanton hit .281 with 59 home runs and 132 RBI. He also had 32 doubles and scored 123 runs.

Stanton goes from the spacious Marlins Park to the hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium which is bad news for opposing pitchers. Giancarlo could get jammed and hit it out of the park. He’ll also now be surrounded by the likes of Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez which is more bad news for opponents. Like with Judge, expecting Stanton to improve on last season is unrealistic. However, close to another 50 bombs and 100+ RBI is definitely in the realm of possibility.

After the New York Yankees traded for Stanton, the Boston Red Sox needed to make a counter move. They took their sweet time but eventually signed slugger J.D. Martinez. Injuries limited Martinez to just 119 games last season between the Tigers and Diamondbacks but he was still able to hit .303 with 45 home runs and 104 RBI. Martinez can now look to pull balls over the Green Monster in Fenway Park and if he can stay healthy, he too could hit over 50 homers. If you couldn’t already tell, expect plenty of home runs when the Yankees and Red Sox renew their rivalry this year.

Speaking of homers, moving to the Indians last year did not stop Edwin Encarnacion from hitting dingers. Eddie hit .258 with 38 homers and 107 RBI. Encarnacion’s batting average was a bit low but his 104 walks gave him an impressive .377 on-base percentage. He’ll continue to plague New York and Boston pitching like he did during his time with the Blue Jays.

With so much talent in the Astros lineup, Evan Gattis was limited to just 84 games in 2017. While he stuck around his career average batting .263, his limited games led to a career-low 12 home runs (he had at least 21 homers every other season). It appears as though Gattis will be Houston’s everyday DH this year, but he won’t leap the other three sluggers ahead of him on this list.