Kotsay denies being a bust in DH duties, says ‘committee’ plan helped Sox

From Baseball-Reference:

“Jim Thome sponsor(s) this page.

Highly underrated, Mark Kotsay became the best defensive designated hitter in American League history in 2010.”

But Kotsay instead is focusing on what the Sox’ DH-by-committee helped accomplish. And he unapologetically thinks critics are missing the big picture when they call him a key reason for the failure of that DH strategy.

‘‘Anytime you have an unsuccessful season, the finger gets pointed in every direction that it can be,’’ Kotsay said. ‘‘A failure? I think they’re generalizing it by strictly just putting the number together.’‘

The number is his .108 April batting average, which swayed opinions against him early.

‘‘If you look at the whole year from a Mark Kotsay standpoint, it’s been criticism from the get-go,’’ the lefty hitter said. ‘‘I didn’t get off to a good start, I got buried, I slowly got myself out of that hole when the team was having success in the winning portion of the season. But even in that turnaround, there was always talk that we needed a left-handed bat.’‘

‘‘Hey, you know what? It’s been the whole season. I think I was able to carry myself in a professional manner and realize, ‘Yeah, my success as a whole, if I evaluate my whole year, it’s not nearly where I wanted it to end.’ But I think I battled, I think I fought the whole season.’‘