The big prize in terms of individual awards is obviously Tarik Skubal’s high likelihood of a repeat AL Cy Young award, but the Tigers have been collecting some hardware otherwise as well. Dillon Dingler took home his first Gold Glove award, and on Friday evening, star outfielder Riley Greene captured his first Silver Slugger award among AL outfielders, while Zach McKinstry took home a Silver Slugger as top hitter among utilitymen in the American League.
The extreme Jekyll and Hyde nature of Greene’s
2025 season certainly gave some pause for long term concern, but he hit 36 home runs in 157 games, slashing .258/.313/.493 good for a 121 wRC+ and tied for 10th in total home runs across the major leagues this season. Among outfielders, only Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Jo Adell had more.
Judge, along with the Minnesota Twins’ Byron Buxton, were the other two Silver Slugger award winners among AL outfielders. Soto, Kyle Tucker, and Corbin Carroll won the National League Silver Sluggers as outfielders.
Riley Greene hit .284/.335/.544 in the first half, with 24 homers, 21 doubles, and one triple, good for 78 of his 111 total RBIs on the year. His collapse in the second half left fans more worried than anything, along with declining spring speed and murmurs of some physical issues that were holding him back. Hopefully he can get himself sorted out, because his age 24 season showed what an enormous force he can be at the plate, and he’s still just working his way into what should be his prime years.
McKinstry winning a Silver Slugger is certainly a lot bigger surprise, or certainly would have been at the start of the year. Like Greene, it was distinctly a tale of two halves of the season.
McKinstry hit 12 homers on the year across 511 plate appearances. His .259/.333/.438 line was good for a 114 wRC+ and he also chipped in 19 stolen bases as the Tigers only consistent threat on the basepaths. At age 30, the utiltyman broke out far beyond anything his career in his 20’s would have foreseen.
However, like Greene this was all built on a first half in which he hit .285/.364/.472 with eight homers, 14 doubles, and eight triples. That was good for a 132 wRC+ that really helped lengthen the Tigers lineup and helped carry them to their extremely successful first half. Of course, McKinstry really went back to his career average levels in the second half. He hit .213/.278/.378 in the second half for an 81 wRC+ as his production dried up.
Still, to do this even once considering his modest utility level career is pretty awesome. Congratulations fo both Zach and Riley on their Silver Slugger awards.
You can find the complete list of NL winners here.
