Vote for the best designated hitter in Royals history as part of an all-time team

As you know by now, this is the 50th season of Royals baseball.

In honor of the milestone season, The Star is asking for help from Royals fans as we seek to determine the best players at each position in franchise history.

From now until September, we’ll ask you to vote for an all-time team. We’ve previously looked at the top catchers, first basemen, second basemen, shortstops, third basemen, left fielders and center fielders.

Today’s vote is for best designated hitter.

Here are the DH candidates:

Billy Butler

Butler batted .295 with 276 doubles and 127 home runs in 1,166 games over eight seasons. An All-Star and Silver Slugger award winner in 2012, Butler was part of the 2014 AL championship team. He batted .303 with three doubles in nine ALCS and World Series games.

Hal McRae

A three-time All-Star, McRae won the Silver Slugger award in 1982 and twice finished fourth in the MVP vote. That season he led the league in doubles (46) and RBIs (133). His 54 doubles in 1977 also were an AL best. He was on seven Royals playoff teams from 1976-85, including the World Series championship squad. In 15 seasons with the Royals, McRae batted .293 with 449 doubles and 169 homers in 1,837 games.

Mike Sweeney

Sweeney was a five-time All-Star in his 13 seasons with the Royals. In that time, he batted .299 with 297 doubles and 197 home runs in 1,282 games. Sweeney received MVP votes in three different seasons. Injuries took a toll on his career, but from 1999-2005 Sweeney hit .313 with a .905 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.

This story was originally published August 24, 2018 at 10:23 AM.