MLB and Louisville Slugger announced the 2024 Silver Slugger award winners. MLB had announced the list of finalists last week. The results are as follows:
American League
- Catcher: Salvador Perez, Royals (5th Silver Slugger)
- First Base: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays (2nd)
- Second base: Jose Altuve, Astros (7th)
- Third base: José Ramírez, Guardians (5th)
- Shortstop: Bobby Witt Jr., Royals (1st)
- Outfield: Aaron Judge, Yankees (4th)
- Outfield: Juan Soto, Yankees (5th)
- Outfield: Anthony Santander, Orioles (1st)
- Designated hitter: Brent Rooker, Athletics (1st)
- Utility: Josh Smith, Rangers (1st)
- Team award: Yankees
National League
- Catcher: William Contreras, Brewers (2nd)
- First base: Bryce Harper, Phillies (4th)
- Second base: Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks (1st)
- Third base: Manny Machado, Padres (2nd)
- Shortstop: Francisco Lindor, Mets (4th)
- Outfield: Jackson Merrill, Padres (1st)
- Outfield: Teoscar Hernández, Dodgers (3rd)
- Outfield: Jurickson Profar, Padres (1st)
- Designated hitter: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers (3rd)
- Utility: Mookie Betts, Dodgers (7th)
- Team award: Dodgers
Ouch!
Happy for Brent Rooker, total All-Star snub
The Padres picked up 3
Hang the banner.
shouldn’t you be an a’s fan now
Vegas doesn’t have a team yet. They may never have a team and the soonest they might have one is 2028.
And how’s that eventually work out for you losers?
If you have to call yourself cool, then we know you are not.
@Kewldude69
29 losers every year. Unavoidable for all but 1 team.
You, on the other hand, choose to be an a-hole.
Was hoping Cal Raleigh would get the sweep but Perez is the right choice.
I met Cal today. I was hoping he could add to his hardware. Great dude !
Love Cal. Platinum glove, great with a young pitching staff, well prepared, tough, team first guy who is passionate. Was hoping he’d add Silver Slugger this year, too. Long time fan of Perez, too
Texas Rangers got one and it wasn’t Corey Seager!!!
A 3.2 WAR Machado over a 7.1 WAR Chapman???
It’s Silver Slugger not Mvp
Chapmans war is all about D
It’s about offensive stats not complete player. Chapman gets a lot of WAR from defense.
Which, frankly, I don’t understand why the defensive stats aren’t as high on Manny as they were just a year ago. Bias, whatever, but he still makes very tough plays look easy. He probably had a few more errors in ’24 than ’23, but it’s not like he fell off.
Machado: 2 DRS, -1 OAA
Chapman: 17 DRS, 11 OAA
Manny hit 2 more home runs, and 20+ more RBI.
Also, Fangraphs has Chapman at 5.5 WAR, and Manny at 3.6.
Fangraphs also has Chapman and Machado extremely close on offense. I think Machado edges him out but it’s very close
SS is a hitting award. Chappy’s WAR was higher based on defense. Hitting-wise it was pretty close and either could have won it, but Manny’s two extra HRs and higher batting average probably tipped the scales.
3b*
Silver Slugger
My bad lol
i wonder if they take into account Machado spent 1/3 or half his games at DH and not at 3b. Is there a minimum innings played to be eligible?
I’m not 100% it’s still active Flyby, but it used to be 1,000 innings. Same as GG.
Did they start the 1000 innings thing for GG after Palmeiero won it in ’99 playing less than 30 games at 1B?
Good question. Probably? That was a travesty of epic proportions haha
Vientos had a better claim to it then Chapman.
No way! That’s awesome for Josh Smith.
they give a “team award” for SS now??
john – Yeah the ridiculous “everyone gets an award” mentality is kinda silly.
Just like the “Utility Player Gold Glove Award”.
What’s next, the “Team Cy Young Award”?
It’s even dumber that they picked the world series teams. Wow the 2 teams that made the championship series are good at hitting? Who would’ve ever guessed that!?!?
KC – They each led their league in OPS and HR, so I don’t have an issue with the teams that won it …. just the award itself is silly.
Does each player on each of the two teams get a ribbon or something?
@fever
They each get a gift card from dunkin donuts
Then you have an issue with the teams then lol. My post was against that team award.
I agree that the team Silver Slugger is kind of silly – sounds like an award you’d get at the ESPYs. However, I think in the era of defensive versatility that we’re in, the utility Golf Glove makes a lot of sense to me.
Yankees offense as a team was aweful with 4 of 9 starters doing absolutely nothing for 3/4 of the season. Imagine if they had at least decent hitters in those spots? They easily win 105+ games and the World Series by a sweep
Don’t give them any ideas…
Kind of strange that the “team” awards were given to the teams that just happened to be in the World Series this year.
Yes it’s totally inexplicable that two teams that were (narrowly) 2nd in the nl and 1st in the al in runs scored with multiple individual ss award winners would be given the team awards lol. And in response to a comment further upthread the team awards very literally do not mean that “everyone’s getting a trophy” lol.
Merrill Madness! Hopefully the kid adds Rookie of the Year to his hardware.
Skenes Schmeenes. Can’t even win a Silver Slugger Award….
Good player. Good season. Unfortunately for him, Skenes is a phenomenal player who had a phenomenal season.
Unless ROY is a team award, Merrill doesn’t have much of a case.
While I agree that Skenes had a tremendous year, I’d take Merrill bc Skenes only started like what, 17 games or something around that number?
He had 23 starts. Pitched 133 innings with 170 strikeouts and a sub 2.00 ERA. And the cherry on top is he is only Pitcher besides Nolan Ryan to have 5+ no-hit innings and 10+ strikeouts twice in a season.
It’s not really much of a debate who had the better season.
No, it very much is a debate, Scott!
I’ll vote for the 20yo who changed positions in Spring Training, brings home a Silver Slugger (indicating the numbers are legitimately great as compared to his peers) and played high-level defense and clutch offense everyday since Opening Day.
@Gwynning Also the most go-ahead home runs, as of August, of anyone in baseball. 6 at the time, if I recall.
Really, the debate is showing there should be a position player and pitching rookie award.
@Scott Kliesen
Concur on s/b 2 different Rookie Awards per League. And yes it was 6, all in the 7th inning or later. Tied an all-time record in that regard, although I did forget whom he tied. Garvey? Mays? Ruth? It was a “big” name!
@Gwynning
It was Mays.
Also, Merrill lead the Padres in WAR. A playoff team. As a rookie. Playing a position he had never played before.
Thanx! That was kinda buggin’ me haha, cheers ISD!
@informed I definitely concur comparing hitters and pitchers is foolish. But since we’re forced to in this case, we must recognize what Skenes did this year was historically good. What Merrill accomplished is not. It’s really as simple as that.
@gwynning just for comparison sakes. Gooden won ROY with a 137 ERA+. Skenes had a 214.
Thanks Scott. Fair enough to provide numbers, but comparing 2024 to 1985 or ’86 doesn’t really compute. I don’t dispute Skenes is phenomenal, I’d just prefer to vote for the kid that didn’t play 2/3rds of the season and did a bang-up job at a new position, plus the Silver Slugger justifies his place on the pantheon of ’24 ballers. There is no “wrong” choice, but one won’t go home with the ROY hardware. Perhaps we’ll see the 2 categories sooner rather than later! Cheers buddy
I am obviously biased, so I lean towards Merrill. That being said, Skenes is a phenomenal pitcher and very much deserving of the award as well. I look forward to seeing Skenes continue to grow as a pitcher. He’s just so much fun to watch.
@SFEnthusiast;
I was so bummed back in the day when it was Finley not Brady Anderson that was part of the trade package that brought Glen Davis to Baltimore. Wished it would’ve been him in CF not Brady during that playoff run the Birds had in the 90s.
Any who, it’s interesting you’re talking up Merrill with that moniker of yours. When I watch Merrill, my comparable from years past is Finley.
I do see some similarities between Fins and Merrill in terms of speed, power, athleticism. I don’t want to project too much, too quickly on the kid, but there’s definitely shades of Fins with his play. It’s just exciting to see what he can do moving forward.
Skenes is in the top 3 for Cy Young award. He should be getting unanimous votes for ROY.
Jackson Merrill was definitely NL Rookie of the Year!
MLB should add Rookie Pitcher of the Year as another award.
…
congrats to mookie betts. the best utility player in baseball
In my day utility players were 5’9 and weighed a good bit under 200 lbs! Oh, wait.
Being a utility player aint easy
You’re always shuffled around
Looking for playing time
Hope mookie finds a more solidified role on the team next year
@johncoltrane You made me laugh with that.
“Manny Machado slugged Dave Roberts with his Silver Slugger Award.”
-Ken Rosenthal
lol
Maybe Machado would be less angry if he got an otoplasty.
He would be less angry, if only because he wouldn’t hear the haters anymore! Haha
Tony Taters.
That is all, have a good night
Don’t like the Profar or Santander picks.
Uh they both mashed this season.
Kyle, not saying they didn’t, just that they shouldn’t have won.
Ok, I’ll bite… who should have won Blooper?
I view Silver Slugger as hitting, not just homers. I’d take Duran over Santander (maybe even Greene) and either Teo or Chourio over Profar.
Teo got a Silver Slugger. Chourio wasn’t close. Profar had a 48 point higher OPS and was 18% better by wRC+ and OPS+. That is a huge difference.
I concede. I looked into it and was really surprised.
Lindor!! Well deserved! One of the best seasons in franchise history! Thanks for the ride.
Wait, didn’t Cashman trade Josh Smith for JOEY GALLO?!
Cashman’s had a rough decade+ on the trade front…
That guy Soto was a pretty good pickup
For 1 season, luc.
Winky face emoji!
Even a broken clock is right twice a day
Does anyone have a clock with hands anymore?
My niece was perplexed by my analog watch today, she’s only seen Apple Watches! Ha
Soto was a good pickup, but an obvious one. He’s the second best LH hitter in the league. Cashman has lost trades far more than he’s won them, imo.
Great pickup for one year. Padres already got more WAR out of the deal than the Yankees and they have Cease, King, Vazquez, and Brito for another year.
Yes, he did and he’s a better player than Oswaldo.
Solid picks all around
This utility player thing is corny.
Why? Lots of teams use a utility player who gets like 400+ plate appearances or more.
It’s a strange qualification to make.
How about we give a gold glove to the best defender with red hair. That would be fun…..
@Blackpink
They added utility players to the Gold Glove category too. Ha Seong Kim was the NL beneficiary last year.
There is room for that, but somehow no room for both Merrill and Skenes to take home rookie awards.
Oh great, Blackpink’s latest suggestion is to make sure Justin Turner gets an award every year, just great.
I was thinking Dustin May but I guess that doesn’t help your cause any. Always playing catch up to the Dodgers……
Dustin May would actually have to play to win. It’s JT’s Award by default, just name it The Ginger Glove already. Just great.
How does the MLB have multiple Silver Sluggers that weren’t All stars? No way Rooker and Lindor should have ever been snubbed for all stars.
Lindor hit much better during the second half. Blame the Mets fans for not voting enough. And Rooker in Oakland.
No fans don’t select the backups. Lindor has been snubbed 3 years in a row and every time he’s the best shortstop in the NL.
The Dbacks had 44 more runs than the Dodgers, so I think you got the team silver slugger award wrong.
Seiya got robbed by Profar.
Kinda his thing, as Game 2 of the NLDS showed.
You have to have 550 PA while playing OF to qualify
How do the dodgers get the team award when the padres led in ba and dbacks led to offense ?
To remind everyone they win and spend a lot, in case we’d forgotten.
Congrats to Teoscar. Sorry T-Mobile is such a rough hitters park but happy for his success as a Dodger and their fans seem to appreciate him. Hard guy not to like
I’m sorry. I can’t wrap my head around Mookie Betts being listed as ‘utility’.
Happy for William Contreras. Happy for Travis d’Arnaud! SAD for Sean Murphy! AA, what were you thinking?
But, but, but Machado is a terrible hitter anymore!