A look at Dodger designated hitters

The Dodgers begin their inter-league schedule tomorrow when they begin a two-game at Tampa. As the visitor, the Dodgers will also have a designated hitter in their lineup.

This will be first time this season the Dodgers will be using a designated hitter.

Inter-league games began in 1997 and the Dodgers have had varying degrees of success using a designated hitter.

In 2018, as a team, Dodger designated hitters had a 1.029 OPS. In 2017, it was 0.503 and in 2016 it was 0.427. And yes, that is their OPS.

2015 was remarkable year for Dodger designated hitters, in 41 plate appearances, they had a 0.202 OPS. They had two singles and two walks.

Of course, those numbers only reflect the players who been a designated hitter for the Dodgers and there have been some good ones over the years.

Best individual Dodger seasons as a designated hitter

Mike Piazza still holds the Dodger record for the best OPS (minimum 10 PA) for one season. In 1997, he had an 1.114 OPS in 32 plate appearances. Piazza did not home run but that was not unusual for Dodger designated hitters. However, he did have 15 hits for a .484 batting average.

Dodgers have several players tied for the most home runs in a season as a DH

Regarding home runs, no Dodger has hit more than one home run in a season as a designated hitter.

The Dodgers are the only team to never have a designated hitter hit two or more home runs in a season. Most of this is due to how the Dodgers have used the DH during the season.

Until last season, during this current run of winning NL West titles, the Dodgers had used five or six players as a designated hitter from 2013-2017. Mostly, this was to give some players a rest or to rotate bench players into the lineup.

In 2018, the Dodgers used three players, Matt Kemp, Max Muncy and Justin Turner in that role. It was primarily Kemp and Turner, while Muncy started one game at DH.

Kemp and Turner did very well in 2018 in that role. Kemp hit .389/.500/.556 in 22 plate appearances with one home run. Turner hit a little better, .400/.500/.600 in 18 plate appearances. Turner also hit one home run.

Turner could be the only player that could be a candidate to start both games at Tampa as the designated hitter. It would allow him to not have to play on the artificial turf. And he has performed in that role in the past two seasons.

Writer thanks and acknowledges Baseball-Reference.com and Play Index for the statistical information provided in this article