It turns out playing the position is important for winning a positional award.
A's slugger Khris Davis won the Edgar Martinez Outstanding DH Award Tuesday as the AL's best designated hitter.
48 home runs.
123 RBI.
1 outstanding player.
Khris Davis wins the Edgar Martínez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award!#RootedInOakland pic.twitter.com/J6B2OJ8jxK— Oakland Athletics 🌳🐘⚾️ (@Athletics) November 20, 2018
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Davis beat out Boston Red Sox DH/outfielder J.D. Martinez. Earlier this month, Martinez edged Davis, winning the AL Silver Slugger as a DH and as an outfielder.
Martinez had a superior statistical season to Davis overall, save for home runs. But, Davis beat Martinez where it mattered.
Sports
He was a better designated hitter.
The statistical comparison:
Khris Davis: A .247/.328/.555 slash line with 93 runs scored, 25 doubles, 46 homers and 118 RBI across 139 games as a DH.
J.D. Martinez: A .297/.373/.597 slash line with 68 runs scored, 22 doubles, 27 homers and 79 RBI over 93 games played at DH. https://t.co/IMFT7iuG2W— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) November 20, 2018
[RELATED: Mr. Consistent: A's DH Khris Davis makes crazy MLB history]
Before your Inner Mike Francesa pipes up and calls Davis a compiler, remember that this was an award for designated hitters. Martinez had a historic 2018, and surely would have won the award had he played the position more.
But he didn't, and Davis took home some hardware after a career year of his own.
