Silver Slugger Award: Winners and Snubs

Catcher

Silver Slugger Award: Gary Sanchez, New York Yankees and Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants

Who deserved to win? Sanchez and Posey

Only four catchers in baseball had enough PA to qualify for rate stats: Sanchez, Posey, J. T. Realmuto, and Yadier Molina. That’s not a prerequisite to winning a Silver Slugger, but it shows how few catchers receive regular playing time by the standards of other positions.

The offensive landscape for catchers is bleak at the moment. Only 12 catchers in baseball with 350 PA or more had at least league average production by wRC+. No more than 6 sported a 120 wRC+ or better.

Having been said, Sanchez and Posey were both easy calls for this award. Sanchez led all catchers with a .531 SLG, 130 wRC+ and 33 HR. He became the first Yankees catcher ever to hit 30 HR in a season. Most team positional records don’t mean much, but Yankees catchers include Yogi Berra, Bill Dickey, Thurman Munson, Elston Howard, Jorge Posada, and other stars. It’s noteworthy when someone tops that list of players in any statistical category.

Posey continued on his Hall of Fame career arc by slashing .320/.400/.462. He finished fifth in the NL in BA and ninth in OBP. His 11.6 K% was the second-best in baseball among catchers, trailing only Jonathan Lucroy.