The American League Silver Slugger finalists were officially revealed by FanSided on Thursday morning, with the winners soon to be announced on The Baseball Insiders live stream on YouTube. With three finalists at each position, including DH and utility players, the AL Silver Slugger candidates largely comprise the very best hitters in the league. It's a list chock full of deserving candidates. None are egregious to the point of inexplicability.
That said, there are a few questionable nominations — some candidates who at least merit further interrogation. Not necessarily due to a lack of individual production, but due to who missed the cut as a result.
It's almost impossible not to leave a "deserving" candidate off these lists when attempting to boil down the AL's most impactful hitters to a three-person group at each position. Of note, Silver Slugger awards belong to the best hitters — not necessarily the best overall players. A star's edge (or disadvantage) on defense does not factor into the calculus for these awards.
Sometimes past résumés and longstanding reputation can also lead to a less-earned nomination, as these awards are voted on by coaches, who are bound to have some level of internalized bias after years of facing certain foes.
With all that said, here are the three AL Silver Slugger finalists who at the very least qualify as "surprising," if not outright incorrect.
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2B Brandon Lowe, Tampa Bay Rays
This was a disappointing campaign for the Tampa Bay Rays, forced out of their home ballpark due to hurricane damage and stuck in the Yankees' spring training stadium. Still, there were plenty of standout individual performers, with 31-year-old Brandon Lowe among them. He finished with a .785 OPS and 116 OPS+, notching 31 home runs and 83 RBI in 507 at-bats.
Lowe underperformed his metrics slightly, hitting the baseball exceedingly hard and posting an expected slugging (.498) over 20 ticks higher than the actual number (.477). But Lowe also strikes out a ton, in the fourth percentile for whiffs (33.4%) and the 12th percentile for Ks (26.9%). You will take the power with the strikeouts when it comes to Lowe, especially at second base. But it's fair to wonder if he was the absolute best candidate for this award.
Houston's Jose Altuve did not perform up to his typical standards, but he still finished with a .771 OPS and 112 OPS+ across 101 more plate appearances than Lowe, slugging 26 home runs with 77 RBI. If you want to argue for individual peak over length and durability, Romy González finished with an .826 OPS and 128 OPS+ as a prime platoon option for the Red Sox. He's more situationally limited than Lowe — and he might be better served in the utility category, honestly — but when González steps up to the plate against a lefty, he's one of the most disciplined and productive bats in MLB. Detroit's Gleyber Torres (.745 OPS, 108 OPS+) also deserves a shout for how impactful he was for a genuine contender.
Snubs: Gleyber Torres, Jose Altuve, Romy Gonzalez
SS Jeremy Peña, Houston Astros
In terms of absolute peak, Jeremy Peña absolute deserves his spot on this list. The Houston Astros shortstop began the season on a heater and finished equally strong, although it was ultimately in vain as the Astros fell out of the postseason picture. His raw numbers — .304 average, 17 home runs, .804 OPS, 132 OPS+ — stack up with anyone at the position.
But Peña was limited by a rib injury, which forced him to miss 27 games, on top of other bumps and bruises. He finished with 125 games played and 543 plate appearances. Compare that to Baltimore's Gunnar Henderson (651 plate appearances with .787 OPS), and it's worth debating the totality of Henderson's impact against Peña's more condensed excellence. Henderson struggled out of the gate, but started to look more like his MVP candidate self down the stretch. Baltimore was a far less competitive team overall, but Henderson is a genuine load-bearing superstar when he's right.
You can also split hairs between Peña and Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson. The rookie was also limited to 125 games due to injury, but he hit .311 with an .800 OPS and 121 OPS+, putting together some of the best pure contact numbers in MLB. Wilson doesn't slug it nearly as much as Peña, which counts for a lot, but he also never strikes out (100th percentile at 7.5% rate) and consistently puts the ball in play. Wilson's production tailed off down the stretch after an All-Star start to the campaign, but he did enough overall to at least merit a conversation here.
Snubs: Gunnar Henderson, Jacob Wilson, Jose Altuve
C Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals
Kansas City Royals legend Salvador Perez is an a nine-time All-Star, a five-time Silver Slugger, and a World Series MVP. The 35-year-old has put together one of the all-time great careers behind home plate. He deserves his flowers, but one has to wonder if he really deserves his spot on the finalists list this time around. Perez spent a lot of time as the DH or at first base, for starters. This has also been one of his least inspiring campaigns offensively, as Perez finished with a .729 OPS and 100 OPS+. It's still rare to squeeze 30 home runs and 100 RBI out of the catcher position, so it's not like we can sit here and flatly say, "Perez is unqualified." But when it comes to the crop of catchers in the American League, Perez certainly has competition.
The clearest competition probably comes from Blue Jays dynamo Alejandro Kirk. He finished with a .769 OPS and 111 OPS+, although he was far more limited in terms of reps (506 plate appearances compared to 641 for Perez). Kirk was the better all-around hitter, but Perez does win on the durability front, which goes back to the arguments posed with Peña and Lowe. If we are going to reward peak over extended production, Kirk feels like a snub. It's also worth noting that part of why Perez played so much is because he was not a full-time catcher, but also a first baseman or DH on the regular.
Tigers rookie Dillon Dingler also made a strong case with a .752 OPS and 108 OPS+ over 469 plate appearances, delivering far more consistent contact and on-base numbers than Perez. Minnesota's Ryan Jeffers also lags behind in overall reps, but he finished with better raw numbers (.752 OPS and 108 OPS+) as well thanks to strong plate discipline. It may sound silly to bang the drum for the Twins after such an abysmal year, but individual accolades should transcend team success, especially in baseball.
Perez hit 30 home runs, picked up 100 RBI, and is, you know, Salvador freakin' Perez. So nobody's going to be too angry about his inclusion here. But, it's fair to wonder if he was really the most qualified catcher with all things considered.