The Silver Slugger Award is awarded annually to the best offensive player at each position in both the American League (AL) and the National League (NL), as determined by the coaches and managers of Major League Baseball (MLB). These voters consider several offensive categories in selecting the winners, including batting average, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage, in addition to "coaches' and managers' general impressions of a player's overall offensive value". [1] Managers and coaches are not permitted to vote for players on their own team. [1] The Silver Slugger was first awarded in 1980 and is given by Hillerich & Bradsby, the manufacturer of Louisville Slugger bats. [2] The award is a bat-shaped trophy, 3 feet (91 cm) tall, engraved with the names of each of the winners from the league [1] and plated with sterling silver. [3]
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From 1980 to 2019, and in 2021, a Silver Slugger Award for designated hitters (DH) was only given in the American League, [4] because use of a DH in place of the pitcher in the batting order was prohibited in the National League; [5] a Silver Slugger Award for pitchers was given for the National League instead. [6] In the 2020 season, the National League temporarily allowed use of the designated hitter, and no pitcher was awarded the Silver Slugger Award. An award was given instead to the best designated hitter in the National League. The first NL Silver Slugger Award for designated hitter was given to Marcell Ozuna. Beginning in 2022, the pitcher Silver Slugger Award was retired after MLB announced the full-time implementation of the universal DH rule in both leagues. The Silver Slugger Award for DH is now awarded in both leagues.
David Ortiz has won the most Silver Sluggers as a designated hitter, capturing four consecutively from 2004 to 2007, and winning again in 2011, 2013 and 2016. [7] Two players are tied with four wins. Paul Molitor won the award four times with three different teams: the Milwaukee Brewers in 1987 and 1988; the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993, when the team won the World Series; and the Minnesota Twins in 1996. [8] Edgar Martínez won the award four times with the Seattle Mariners (1995, 1997, 2001, 2003). [9] Don Baylor won the Silver Slugger three times in four years (1983, 1985–1986) as a designated hitter with the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, [10] and Frank Thomas won it twice with the Chicago White Sox (1991, 2000). [11] , and Shohei Ohtani also won the award twice with the Los Angeles Angels (2021, 2023). [12] Harold Baines won the award while playing for two separate teams in the same season; he was traded by the White Sox to the Texas Rangers in the middle of the 1989 season. [13] Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper were the most recent winners.
Martínez set the records for the highest batting average and on-base percentage in a designated hitter's winning season with his .356 and .479 marks, respectively, in 1995. [9] Shohei Ohtani's slugging percentage of .654 is best among all winners at the position. [12] Ortiz hit 54 home runs during the 2006 season, when he won his third consecutive award, [7] and his 2005 total of 148 runs batted in is tied with Rafael Palmeiro's 1999 mark for best among designated hitters. [7] [14]
