The Silver Slugger Award has been awarded annually since 1980 to the best offensive player at each

position Position often refers to: * Position (geometry), the spatial location (rather than orientation) of an entity * Position, a job or occupation Position may also refer to: Games and recreation * Position (poker), location relative to the dealer * ...

in both the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

(AL) and the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

(NL), as determined by the coaches and managers of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). These voters consider several offensive statistics, including

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

, and

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

, as well as their "general impressions of a player's overall offensive value". They are not permitted to vote for players on their team. The award is a bat-shaped trophy, three feet (91 cm) tall, engraved with the names of each of the winners from the league and plated with

sterling silver Sterling silver is an alloy composed mass fraction (chemistry), by weight of 92.5% silver and 7.5% other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver silver standards, standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. ''Fineness, Fine silver'' ...

. It is given by Hillerich & Bradsby, the manufacturer of

Louisville Slugger Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

bats. Ten Silver Slugger Awards are given each year per league individually. One each goes to a catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, and shortstop. Three

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

s receive the award, irrespective of their specific position; for instance, three

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

s could win the award in a given year. One award goes to a

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

(a player who bats in place of the pitcher) and one to a

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, basketball, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water ...

(a player who can play multiple fielding positions). Additionally, since 2023, a Silver Slugger is also awarded to “the best offensive team” in each league. NL pitchers received a Silver Slugger Award each year until 2019 and in 2021. In the COVID-shortened season, MLB allowed NL teams to use a designated hitter, so an NL DH received a Silver Slugger Award for the first time. In 2022, MLB permanently allowed both leagues to use the DH. That year also saw the introduction of the Utility Player Award.

Home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

record-holder

Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants f ...

won 12 Silver Slugger Awards, the most of any player, and won the award in five consecutive seasons twice: from 1990 to 1994, and again from 2000 to 2004. Mike Piazza and

Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, third baseman and designated hitter and current businessman. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (ML ...

are tied for second, with ten each. Piazza is also the winningest

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

, having won all ten playing at the position. Rodriguez won seven Silver Sluggers as a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

for the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

and Texas Rangers, and three with the Yankees as a third baseman.

Wade Boggs Wade Anthony Boggs (born June 15, 1958), nicknamed "Chicken Man", is an American former professional baseball third baseman. He spent 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. He also played for the New York Ya ...

leads third basemen with eight awards; Barry Larkin leads shortstops with nine. Other leaders include Jose Altuve, who is tied with

Ryne Sandberg Ryne Dee Sandberg (born September 18, 1959), nicknamed "Ryno", is an American former professional baseball player, coach (baseball), coach, and manager (baseball), manager. He played sixteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second bas ...

(seven wins as a

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

), Mike Hampton (five wins as a pitcher), and Paul Goldschmidt (five wins as a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

David Ortiz David Américo Ortiz Arias (born November 18, 1975), nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican Americans, Dominican-American former professional baseball designated hitter and first baseman who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1997 ...

has won seven awards as a designated hitter, the most at that position. In 2018, J. D. Martinez collected two Silver Slugger Awards: one as a designated hitter and the other as an outfielder, becoming the only player to win twice in one year. In 2021, Max Fried became the final pitcher to win a Silver Slugger Award.

Key

AL winners

Source:

NL winners

Source: (^) = A universal

rule was implemented temporarily during the MLB season and was fully implemented starting in ; the NL awarded its first Silver Slugger for DH in 2020. No award for pitchers was given.

References

External links

All-time winners
at MLB.com
Silver Slugger Awards
at slugger.com via

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

{{featured list Awards established in 1980

Key

AL winners

NL winners

See also

References

External links