The Silver Slugger award is given to the best offensive player at each position in both leagues every year. Sure, Aaron Judge is going to win a Silver Slugger virtually every year he's healthy, the door is also open for one-hit wonders and breakout stars to win the award as well.
These Silver Slugger winners within the last three years deserved to walk away with the hardware, but all have had brutal 2026 campaigns — starting with perhaps the most egregious of all in 2025 MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh.
C Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners
- Silver Slugger win: 2025
- Silver Slugger team: Seattle Mariners
An argument could be made that Raleigh should've won the AL MVP award in 2025, so watching him go from that to this is startling. Raleigh was perhaps the easiest Silver Slugger to name in 2025 after he launched 60 home runs overall and 49 as a catcher for the Seattle Mariners, something that had quite literally never been done before. This season, though, he's hit .158 with 13 home runs and a .568 OPS in 91 games played.
It was fair to expect a bit of a drop-off from Raleigh this season, but who actually expected him to go from being an MVP runner-up to the player with the fifth-worst wRC+ (70) among the 175 position players with at least 350 plate appearances? Again, it's been startling.
UTIL Zach McKinstry, Detroit Tigers
- Silver Slugger win: 2025
- Silver Slugger team: Detroit Tigers
Zach McKinstry emerged seemingly out of nowhere for the Detroit Tigers in 2025, going from a player likely on DFA watch to an All-Star and eventual Silver Slugger winner. He entered the 2025 campaign with 25 home runs and a .643 OPS in 387 games. That year alone, he hit 12 home runs and had a .771 OPS, and he did that while making an appearance at every position other than center field and catcher.
McKinstry's ability to play all over the diamond while hitting at an above-average level made him an extremely valuable player for Detroit, but while he's been a versatile defender once again this season, his bat has gone missing. McKinstry has reverted to his career norms in 2026, hitting four home runs with a .637 OPS in 100 games. He's a big part of the reason why the Tigers have underachieved to this point.
OF Kyle Tucker, Los Angeles Dodgers
- Silver Slugger win: 2025
- Silver Slugger team: Chicago Cubs
It's easy to forget, since he struggled so mightily down the stretch, but Kyle Tucker won a Silver Slugger award in the 2025 season — his only year with the Chicago Cubs. That marked Tucker's second Silver Slugger win in a three-year span, and it was deserved, as he ended the year with 22 home runs, 25 stolen bases and an .841 OPS.
It goes without saying that Tucker has been a shell of his usual self with the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, as he's slashed .230/.326/.366 with 11 home runs and 54 RBI. He's been a below-average hitter overall and has been particularly bad at home, where he has hit .189 with a .558 OPS. I don't know whether the expectations have gotten to him after signing such a massive contract, but it's been jarring seeing him struggle this much at the plate (and in the field, too).
OF Mookie Betts, Los Angeles Dodgers
- Silver Slugger win: 2024
- Silver Slugger team: Los Angeles Dodgers
Mookie Betts won his third straight Silver Slugger and his seventh overall in 2024, when he hit 19 home runs and had an .876 OPS for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had an uncharacteristically down year in 2025, but he looked much better to end the year (.784 second-half OPS compared to a .696 first-half OPS), and his track record suggested he'd get back on track in 2026. Instead, he's done the opposite.
Betts has a .697 OPS so far this season, which is nearly 200 points below his career mark of .871. His 92 OPS+ is over 40 points below his career mark of 133. With Betts now 33 years of age, Dodgers fans certainly hope he can find a way to bounce back and that he hasn't simply become a below-average hitter.
OF Anthony Santander, Toronto Blue Jays
- Silver Slugger win: 2024
- Silver Slugger team: Baltimore Orioles
For a three-year stretch, Anthony Santander was one of the most consistent sluggers in the American League. His 105 home runs from 2022 through 2024 ranked second, behind only Aaron Judge, among all AL position players, and he ranked within the top five in RBI as well. He won his first Silver Slugger award in 2024, thanks to a 44-home run and 102-RBI season, and that consistent slugging earned him a five-year, $92.5 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Unfortunately, that signing has been a major bust for the Jays. It didn't matter much in the 2025 campaign, as they went to the World Series despite him making much of an impact, but now Toronto is in the midst of a down year and Santander has been out all season with a shoulder injury. In all likelihood, he won't play at all this season. Perhaps he can bounce back when healthy, but it's been rough.
UTIL Josh Smith, Toronto Blue Jays
- Silver Slugger win: 2024
- Silver Slugger team: Texas Rangers
Much like McKinstry, Smith is a player who never really did much at the MLB level before randomly winning a Silver Slugger as a utility player in 2024. Smith had a 114 OPS+ while seeing time at five of the nine positions in the field, so he was an incredibly valuable player for the Texas Rangers. He'd have a similar offensive year in 2025, but his numbers this season are down to the point where the Rangers opted to trade him to the Blue Jays at the deadline.
Smith has hit .210 with a .574 OPS this season, and has gone just 4-for-21 (.190 BA) since being acquired by Toronto. His defensive versatility keeps him semi-valuable in a reserve role, but his bat going missing hurt the Rangers dearly in 2025 and in 2026. It's rare to see a player go from Silver Slugger winner to DFA'd in the span of a couple of years, but Smith could be nearing that point.
OF Jurickson Profar, Atlanta Braves
- Silver Slugger win: 2024
- Silver Slugger team: San Diego Padres
Speaking of players nearing that point, let's talk about Jurickson Profar. The San Diego Padres watched Profar randomly put together the best year of his career in 2024 when he slashed .280/.380/.459 with 24 home runs and 85 RBI. He was once considered a top prospect and had shown flashes of brilliance here and there, but he'd never put it all together until the 2024 campaign — his 11th big-league season.
That breakout year earned Profar an opportunity to sign a three-year, $42 million deal with the Atlanta Braves, but it's all gone downhill since. He was suspended just four games into his Braves tenure due to a positive PED test, and while he swung the bat well upon returning for the end of that season, Profar was suspended again this spring, costing him the entire 2026 campaign. It's fair to question whether his Silver Slugger year was aided by PED usage, and it's also fair to wonder if the Braves will or should bring him back for the final year of his deal in 2027.
2B Marcus Semien, New York Mets
- Silver Slugger win: 2023
- Silver Slugger team: Texas Rangers
Marcus Semien was one of the AL's best second basemen for virtually his entire prime, and his outstanding 2023 season helped the Texas Rangers win the World Series. He hit 40 doubles, crushed 29 home runs and drove in 100 runs while leading the AL in runs (122) and hits (185).
His offense had tailed off since that Silver Slugger win, but Semien was still a fairly valuable player for Texas in 2025, mainly because of his defense. Well, not only has his defense fallen off after an offseason trade to the New York Mets, but he's set career lows with a .210 batting average, a .623 OPS and a 73 OPS+. In just three years, Semien has gone from the best second baseman in the American League to one of the worst regulars in the sport.
OF Luis Robert Jr., New York Mets
- Silver Slugger win: 2023
- Silver Slugger team: Chicago White Sox
After several injury-riddled seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Luis Robert Jr. finally realized his lofty potential in the 2023 campaign, launching 38 home runs, stealing 20 bases and playing Gold Glove-caliber defense in center field. Fast forward to 2026, and not only has it been a struggle for Robert to stay on the field, but he hasn't been productive in the games he's played.
He's slashing .214/.287/.346 with six home runs and 18 RBI in 47 games for the Mets this season. It's one thing for Robert to struggle to make much of an impact because he's injured, but it's another for him to miss significant time while also barely hitting above the Mendoza Line, as he's done since winning the Silver Slugger.
3B Austin Riley, Atlanta Braves
- Silver Slugger win: 2023
- Silver Slugger team: Atlanta Braves
Austin Riley won his second Silver Slugger in three years when he hit 37 home runs, drove in 97 runs and had an .861 OPS for the Atlanta Braves in 2023. His production had tailed off significantly in 2024 and 2025, but he was still an above-average hitter in those years and could also write those struggles off due to injuries. Well, he's been healthy this season, already appearing in more games than he did in the last two years combined, yet he's had the worst season of his career.
Riley is slashing .224/.296/.372 with 15 home runs and 58 RBI, striking out 31.3 percent of the time — and that's even with a recent hot streak factored in. An argument can be made that Riley has as good a chance as anybody on this list to revert to Silver Slugger form, but Braves fans might need to see that to believe it at this point.
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