Atlanta Braves continue to add precious metals to the portfolio

For a team like the Atlanta Braves that thrives on pitching and defense, there were a lot of hitters recognized for their 2021 efforts today.

It can get a little confusing these days between the MVP award, the Hank Aaron award, and these Silver Sluggers, so perhaps a good introduction to this might be a quick refresher course, as in:  “what is the Silver Slugger award?”… since so many Atlanta Braves players are getting this trophy.

Here’s the description from mlb.com:

"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."

(Not mentioned:  managers and coaches do not vote for their own players)

The Hank Aaron award is given to the best offensive player in each league — regardless of position.  The Silver Sluggers are awarded to 9 players in each league — plus an American League DH — one per position.

UPDATE:  Ah, yes… no AL pitcher gets a Silver Slugger, of course.

Another way to think about it is there’s a similar relationship to Gold Glove winners:  among them, there will be a single Platinum award winner for each league.

Likewise, among the Silver Slugger winners, there’s a Hank Aaron award given to one player in each league (the voting criteria is a little different, but let’s roll with that).

Atlanta Braves cash in

Five Atlanta Braves’ players were named as finalists, and four of them came away victorious.

• 1B – FREDDIE FREEMAN (3rd time)
• 2B – OZZIE ALBIES (2nd)
• 3B – AUSTIN RILEY (1st)
• P – MAX FRIED (1st)

Adam Duvall will have to be satisfied with “just” his Gold Glove this year, though Max Fried can brag about having both trophies for his display case.

It’s certainly arguable that Jacob deGrom might have taken this home instead, but injuries pretty much kept him out of the running for multiple accolades in 2021.

Freid hit .273 on the season with 3 doubles, 7 runs scored, and 5 RBI.  He also walked 4 times.

A .649 OPS isn’t particularly robust for a position player, but it was good enough for 2nd place in the majors among pitchers with at least 20 plate appearances… and perhaps may make him the last ever pitcher recipient of this award.

[deGrom had 33 PA and a .758 OPS; for those asking, Huascar Ynoa cooled off to a .656 mark… 5th in baseball].

Freddie Freeman‘s late surge fueled his candidacy for this award, his 3rd in a row.  It might be argued that others had better years (Joey Votto in particular), but voters may have preferred traits like Freeman’s ability to get on base via hits more than Votto’s tendency to walk more often.

Austin Riley beat out Manny Machado with sheer stats:  better homers, better average, better OPS, more RBI, better slugging… it was the whole package in this breakout year for the kid.

Ozzie Albies may have won over his voters with 31 homers, 103 runs scored, and 106 RBI… the only second baseman in the league to eclipse those milestone numbers (30/100/100).

The only other player to do that — Marcus Semien — is an MVP finalist in the AL.

On every great team, there has to be players having great years:  these Silver Slugger award bestow the kind of honors that we already knew to be true about this Atlanta Braves team.

But it’s also very nice that baseball’s managers and coaches recognize that, too.