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Blue Jays: Potential for players to take home some personal hardware

By Tyson Shushkewich

TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 17: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 of the Toronto Blue Jays runs out a solo home run in the third inning of their MLB game against the Minnesota Twins at Rogers Centre on September 17, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 17: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 of the Toronto Blue Jays runs out a solo home run in the third inning of their MLB game against the Minnesota Twins at Rogers Centre on September 17, 2021 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images) /
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ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 21: Marcus Semien #10 of the Toronto Blue Jays runs home after Bo Bichette hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on September 21, 2021 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

The Silver Slugger Award

The Silver Slugger Award is an individual accolade that is awarded to a player at each position as voted on by managers and coaches across the Major Leagues based on the slash line statistics as well as the offensive output from the player.

The Blue Jays have a few players who could find themselves taking home this award this season.

Marcus Semien

Another off-season signing, second baseman Marcus Semien is having a great campaign at the plate, slashing .269/.341/.544 on the year and leading all second baseman in terms of OPS (.884), home runs (42), and RBI (98).

Semien has been dominant this season but if the voters stick with slash line stats in regards to winning the award, he may be in for a bit of a competition.

The Jays second baseman sits in the top five in terms of batting average and OBS and leads the slugging category amongst the AL. Jose Altuve is also sitting around the top of the leaderboards so it may be a bit closer than expected, however, I don’t see how he doesn’t bring home this trophy at the end of the season considering he is currently one of the top offensive players this season.

Semien may also get some attention for the MVP award but considering the campaign’s Ohtani and Guerrero Jr. are putting together, he may receive some votes but will most likely fall in the 3-5 area on the award depth charts.

The Blue Jays are currently fighting for a postseason spot but have some players who could potentially earn their own hardware this season.

Teoscar Hernandez

After winning the award during last year’s shortened campaign, Teoscar Hernandez has his sights set on a second Silver Slugger this season.

Amongst right fielders, Hernandez currently leads multiple categories such as average (.301) and RBI (110). He missed a few weeks earlier this season on the COVID-IL and that had a bit of an impact on his home run (30) stats but both Aaron Judge (Yankees) and Kyle Tucker (Astros) are having great seasons, with Judge leading AL right fielders in OBP and Tucker leading slugging. Tucker and Judge also have an upper hand on Hernandez in terms of OPS (.878) and Judge also leads the Jays outfielder by six home runs.

To make matters even more difficult is that the Silver Slugger award goes to the top three outfielders and is not based on position. That means Hernandez not only has to compete with other right fielders but also with every other outfielder across the American League. Rankings-wise, Hernandez currently sits second in average, fourth in slugging, and tied for ninth in OBP while also ranking first in RBI, fourth in OPS, and fourth in home runs.

This next week will most likely be a deciding factor on who takes home the hardware in the outfield with many of the players being so close amongst the categories. A strong finish to the campaign could see Hernandez bring home a consecutive Silver Slugger award North of the border but it will be a very close contest.

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