He did it!
Javier Baez is your 2018 NL Silver Slugger for Second Base!*
Congratulations to @javy23baez on winning his first career National League #SilverSlugger Award! pic.twitter.com/sWTbP2dWxL
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) November 8, 2018
I must admit: because so much of my focus around 2018 awards and Javier Baez has been centered on his candidacy for NL MVP (and the fact that he was not a finalist for the NL Gold Glove award), I had completely forgotten about his potential to win the Silver Slugger … but he did! And it’s awesome and well-deserved.
Though I suppose if you’re credibly a second base Gold Glove candidate *and* an MVP finalist, you’re probably going to wind up among the best hitters at your position – indeed, he was:
2018 NL Second Baseman:
- Javier Baez: 131 wRC+
- Scooter Gennett: 125 wRC+
- Ben Zobrist: 123 wRC+
- Asdrubal Cabrera: 111 wRC+
- Ketel Marte: 104 wRC+
As you can see, Baez was in a tier of his own among NL second baseman this season, and there wasn’t much of a challenger to contest that. Indeed, only Jose Altuve (135 wRC+) was better offensively among all second basemen in MLB! So, a big congrats to Javier Baez, who takes home a well-earned honor for his MVP-caliber season. He may not win another award this winter, but it’s good to see him get some more attention and recognition. He has come such a long way.
* Although I’m almost 100% positive Baez won his award for second base, I’ll point out that his tweet did not actually include the words “second base,” but rather said “INF.” It’s technically possible this is some multi-position honor, but I don’t think that’s what it is – especially because Baez was listed just after Jose Altuve was announced as the AL Winner at second base.
Just throwing that out there. Okay, back to the celebration!
It's the first career #SilverSlugger for one of the most exciting players in the game. Congrats to @Cubs INF @javy23baez! pic.twitter.com/Fk2W9bIi6H
— Louisville Slugger (@sluggernation) November 8, 2018