Will anyone dethrone Shohei Ohtani as MLB’s best designated hitter any time soon? The Dodgers superstar raked in another major accolade on Thursday, further testament to his dominance at the plate.
Ohtani’s excellent 2025 season earned him his fifth straight Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award, tying him with David Ortiz for the most consecutive wins since the award’s inception in 1973. Ohtani’s win was announced during the MLB Awards show presented by MGM Rewards.
The honor was renamed in 2004 for Martinez, who spent his entire 18-year career with the Mariners and won the award in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001. With his victory in 2025, Ohtani joined Ortiz (eight times) and Martinez as the only players to earn the honor five or more times.
It was well deserved for Ohtani, who continued to mash Major League pitching en route to his fourth career and third straight Most Valuable Player Award. Ohtani posted a .282/.392/.622 slash line, broke his own franchise record from 2024 with a career-high 55 home runs and led the National League with a 1.014 OPS.
Leading off in 148 of his 158 games, Ohtani set the tone for the Dodgers’ star-studded offense, scoring an MLB-best 146 runs and helping Los Angeles repeat as World Series champions. While it didn’t factor into the criteria for the Outstanding DH Award, Ohtani made an impact on the mound, too: After not pitching in 2024 while rehabbing from right UCL surgery, he was back to two-way stardom in 2025, starting 14 games in the regular season and four more in the postseason.
Ohtani claimed the Edgar Martinez Outstanding DH Award in each of his final three seasons with the Angels (2021-23) before signing a record-setting 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers. He has won four Silver Slugger Awards at DH, doing so in each of his MVP seasons: 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025. If he can keep up his incredible offensive production in 2026, Ohtani has a strong chance at what would be a record sixth straight Outstanding DH Award.
