The Silver Slugger finalists across baseball were revealed on Thursday morning and three Athletics saw their names among the contenders for the prestigious award:
None of these are a surprise to A’s fans. The trio were the heart of the Athletics order and look like they will be again next year. All three were near-locks to at least get nominated at their positions and there won’t be any snubs this year. There could have been another had shortstop Jacob Wilson not gotten hurt midway through the year but there’s always next year.
‘Bangeliers’ as we call him slashed .277/.325/.536 with 31 home runs. Most years that’d be more than enough to take home the Silver Slugger but Langeliers almost certainly won’t beat out his divisional opponent Cal Raleigh. Still an incredible year though, and he likely would have broken the A’s single-season homer record for a catcher had he not missed a month right in the middle of the season. He’s continued to get better every season and that looks likely to continue next year.
Kurtz has an excellent shot to take home some hardware this offseason in addition to his expected Rookie of the Year award. Kurtz’s biggest challenger for the Silver Slugger would be Vladimir Guerrero Jr. up in Toronto but the rookie’s stats are better almost across the board. After starting the year in the minors Kurtz teared the cover off the ball to the tune of .290/.383/.619 with 36 home runs, as a rookie. It’d be a major shock if Kurtz isn’t the winner here.
As for Rooker, his path to his second career Silver Slugger award has a major obstacle in Jays slugger George Springer. The longtime Astro has rediscovered his Houston form and helped propel the Jays to the #1 seed in the American League. Springer hit two more homers than Rooker during the regular season and generally had better stats but he also played in the hitter-friendly AL East and missed almost a month while Rook played in all 162 games. It’s an uphill battle but don’t count out Rooker yet.
We find out the winners in the American League on November 7th at 3 P.M. Congrats Shea, Nick, and Brent!
