Red Sox Silver Slugger winners Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts make history

Boston Red Sox stars Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts each won the Silver Slugger award for the third time to set historical achievements.

Major League Baseball announced the recipients of the 2019 Silver Slugger Award winners, which recognized a pair of Boston Red Sox hitters for being the best bats at their position.

Right fielder Mookie Betts and shortstop Xander Bogaerts both received the honor for the third time in their careers.

Betts has earned the Silver Slugger Award in three of the last four seasons (2016, 2018, 2019). He’s also won a Gold Glove in each of the last four years. No other Red Sox player in franchise history has won both awards in the same season more than once, highlighting the rare five-tool value that Betts brings to the table.

It’s hard to imagine now but there were those who were actually worried about Betts when he got off to a bit of a slow start this season. It was never realistic for him to repeat his MVP production of 2018, which was one of the greatest single-season performances in franchise history. Even with some expected regression, it was a bit surprising to see the reigning batting champion sputtering along with a .272 average in the first half.

Betts predictably started to heat up during the summer months to finish with a .295/.391/.524 line with 29 home runs, 80 RBI, 16 stolen bases and a major league-leading 135 runs scored.

Betts ranked second among AL right fielders with a .380 wOBA and fourth with 135 wRC+, per FanGraphs. Only George Springer finished ahead of Betts in both categories but the Astros outfielder spent the majority of his time in center field and won the Silver Slugger at that position.

Bogaerts previously won the Silver Slugger in 2015 and 2016. His third award gives him more than all other Red Sox shortstops combined!

That’s a shocking fact for a franchise that once employed a young Nomar Garciaparra, whose only Silver Slugger came in his Rookie of the Year campaign in 1997. Nomar didn’t repeat the achievement the following season despite finishing as the runner-up in the MVP race. That was the downside of being a star shortstop during the peak of Alex Rodriguez‘s career. John Valentine (1995) is the only other Red Sox shortstop to win a Silver Slugger.

Garciaparra may have been cheated out of a few Silver Sluggers due to playing in the same era as a perennial MVP candidate who happened to play the same position but it’s not as if Bogaerts doesn’t face stiff competition. The AL is loaded at the shortstop position with Francisco Lindor, Marcus Semien, Carlos Correa, and Jorge Polanco. Throw Gleyber Torres in the mix if you want to count him as a shortstop, although he split time at second base.

Bogaerts deserved the honor over any of them. He set career-highs across the board by hitting .309/.384/.555 with 52 doubles, 33 home runs, and 117 RBI. His 85 extra-base hits trailed only teammate Rafael Devers for the league-lead.

If you exclude Alex Bregman, who spent more time at the hot corner and received a Silver Slugger at third base, Bogaerts led his position with 141 wRC+ and a .390 wOBA.

A case could be made that Devers, J.D. Martinez, and perhaps even Christian Vazquez were deserving of a Silver Slugger. The Red Sox having a pair of recipients with a few other hitters who warrant being in the conversation goes to show how loaded this lineup is.