Five Yankees and one Met have been named finalists for MLB’s Silver Slugger Awards, which will be given out
The lone Met is…a pitcher? Indeed, it’s Jacob deGrom, who went 12-for-33 with six RBI – a .364 average and .758 OPS – in the half-season he was active, and at one point had more RBI than earned runs allowed. He’s up against Arizona’s Madison Bumgarner, Colorado’s German Marquez, and Atlanta’s Max Fried for the award.
On the Yankees side, Aaron Judge, who hit a career-high .287 with 39 home runs and 98 RBI, is one of eight finalists in the outfield, while the two men he often shared an outfield with down the stretch, Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Gallo, are both among five finalists at designated hitter.
That spot is likely locked up by Shohei Ohtani, but Stanton’s .273/.354/.516 slash line, 35 homers, and 97 RBI make a good case. Gallo, however, is a little more curious; he did have 38 homers, 77 RBI, and a league-leading 111 walks, but his slash line was .199/.351/.458 and he also led MLB with 213 strikeouts – oh, and he had all of 60 plate appearances as a DH, going 9-for-48 with two homers.
The other two Yankees finalists are DJ LeMahieu at second base and Gary Sanchez at catcher, giving them a total of five finalists that tied three other teams for the most in MLB. LeMahieu is looking for his third straight award, as he has been the AL’s winner each of the last two seasons, while Sanchez won the award in 2017.
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Judge and Stanton also won Silver Sluggers in 2017, and Stanton has also previously won in 2014. deGrom has never won the award.
Per MLB, “Silver Slugger Award winners are decided by votes from the manager and three coaches of each MLB team. Votes are based on a combination of statistical production as well as the managers’ and coaches’ general impressions of a player’s overall offensive value.”
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