Last week, we got word of the Gold Glove Finalists for each respective league and the Atlanta Braves ended up with two representatives in the running to bring home some hardware. This week, the finalists
for the Silver Slugger Awards for this past season have been announced and once again, the Braves will have a pair of players in the running to get recognized.
Matt Olson and Austin Riley have both been named has finalists for the NL Silver Slugger Award at their respective positions.
Matt Olson will have to contend with Pete Alonso and Freddie Freeman at first base, while Austin Riley is in the running alongside Matt Chapman, Manny Machado and Max Muncy at third base. As far as Olson goes, this isn’t particularly shocking since Olson was arguably the best all-around first baseman in not just the National League but baseball as a whole. With that being said, Alonso and Freeman both put up some very solid numbers at the plate as well and I’d honestly place Pete Alonso as the favorite to take home the Silver Slugger.
Still, it’s very impressive from Olson and a testament to how good he was this season that he’s been nominated for both the Gold Glove and the Silver Slugger. Olson didn’t quite have a career year with a slash line of .272/.366/.484 with 136 wRC+ and 29 home runs but that type of production was still good enough to be an elite first baseman in 2025 and it’s good to see that he’s being recognized as such.
Austin Riley’s placement as a finalist is a bit of a surprise, though. He didn’t even get enough plate appearances to show up on leaderboards as a “qualified” player and even when he was active, this was definitely a down year at the plate for Riley’s lofty standards. I would say that Riley’s .260/.309/.428 slash line with 103 wRC+ and 16 home runs probably won’t cut it for the Silver Slugger Award this season — especially with Chapman, Machado and Muncy all having much better seasons at the plate. Still, it’s an honor to be nominated and hopefully Riley will take that as motivation and proof that he’s still very highly thought of as a hitter in baseball.
