Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Dave Winfield represent opposite ends of Blue Jays Silver Slugger history

One of the highlights of the MLB offseason is when the league’s major awards begin to roll out, and the Louisville Silver Slugger Awards always carry extra weight because they recognize the best offensive player at each position.

For the second straight year, FanSided will have a prominent role in the announcement process through The Baseball Insiders YouTube channel, giving Jays Journal readers another reason to keep an eye on the award conversation as the season winds down.

The Blue Jays may be hard pressed to match the depth of nominations they had in recent years, though Kazuma Okamoto’s 33-home run season should at least put him somewhere in the conversation among American League third basemen. Whether that is enough to earn finalist status remains to be seen, but it is a good excuse to look back at two of the most interesting Silver Slugger seasons in franchise history.

On one end is Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who became the youngest Blue Jays player to win the award during his monster 2021 season. On the other is Dave Winfield, who capped his one-year Toronto stop with one of the most productive age-40-plus seasons the franchise has ever seen.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. became the youngest Blue Jays Silver Slugger winner

Guerrero was only 22 years old when he won the American League Silver Slugger Award at first base in 2021, truly cementing his status among the games elite hitters just two years after his MLB debut.

Although, that season remains the high point of Guerrero’s offensive career. He hit .311/.401/.601, tied Salvador Perez for the Major League lead with 48 home runs, drove in 111 runs and scored an MLB-best 123 times. He also led the American League in on-base percentage and slugging percentage, while finishing with more total bases than any hitter in baseball.

This production came during a year when the Blue Jays could legitimately claim to be one of the most dangerous lineups in baseball. Marcus Semien and Teoscar Hernández also won Silver Slugger Awards that season, while Bo Bichette and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. were among Toronto’s nominees after a 91-win campaign.

Guerrero’s season had several moments that solidified him as Toronto's next face of the franchise. He had his first career three-homer game against the Washington Nationals in April, including a grand slam off Max Scherzer, and later matched his father by reaching 50 career home runs in his 258th career game.

By July, he had become the starting first baseman for the American League in the All-Star Game. Then he took over that stage too, hitting the 200th home run in All-Star Game history and becoming the youngest All-Star Game MVP ever at 22 years and 119 days old.

That was the version of Guerrero that made the next era of Blue Jays baseball so tantalizing. He was a homegrown star that was producing in the biggest moments. He looked like he was turning into one of the games most recognizable young stars. Though his production hasn't reached those levels this season, Blue Jays fans know the potential is there.

Dave Winfield became the oldest Blue Jays Silver Slugger winner

If Guerrero’s Silver Slugger felt like the beginning of something, Winfield’s 1992 award felt like the perfect late-career flourish.

Winfield was 40 during the 1992 regular season and turned 41 before the Blue Jays finished their World Series run. In his lone season with Toronto, he hit .290 with 26 home runs, 106 RBI and 169 hits while finishing fifth in American League MVP voting.

It was the sixth and final Silver Slugger Award of Winfield’s Hall of Fame career, and it came in the exact kind of season the Blue Jays envisioned when they brought him in. Toronto was already loaded with talent, but Winfield gave the lineup another feared bat and the clubhouse gained another veteran voice during a year when the franchise was trying to break through after years of October disappointment.

He also gave the fanbase one of its most memorable rallying cries. “Winfield Wants Noise” became part of the 1992 Blue Jays story after he publicly pushed the SkyDome crowd to bring more energy, and the phrase stuck as Toronto marched toward its first championship.

Then came the moment that guaranteed his one season in Toronto would never be viewed as a footnote. In Game 6 of the 1992 World Series, Winfield drove in the go-ahead runs with an 11th-inning double against Atlanta, helping deliver the first championship in Blue Jays history and the only World Series title of his career.

That makes his Silver Slugger season feel even more fitting in hindsight. It was a productive year from an aging star that ended with champagne showers.

While Winfield would go on to play another 266 games over three years with Minnesota and Cleveland, and collected hit number 3,000 in 1993, 1992 felt like it was the final elite offensive season from one of the greatest players of his generation. The fact that it was all wrapped up into the most important year in Blue Jays history is just icing on the cake.

Two awards, two very different meanings for the Blue Jays

That is what makes the youngest and oldest Silver Slugger winners in Blue Jays history such a fun contrast.

Guerrero’s 2021 award was supposed to be the launching point. He was 22, still climbing and looked like the next great face of the franchise. Even with another Silver Slugger later in his career, the 2021 version of Guerrero remains the one that set the highest possible expectations.

Winfield’s 1992 award, meanwhile, put a bow on a truly great career and came in the same year he helped push Toronto over the championship line.

The Blue Jays have had plenty of worthy Silver Slugger winners over the years, but those two seasons sit at opposite ends of the franchise’s award history.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow