Boston Red Sox history is littered with prolific hitters, many of them Silver Slugger award winners. Wade Boggs won six Silver Sluggers during his 11 seasons with the Red Sox and went on to be one of the biggest winners of all time. David Ortiz won seven times, Manny Ramirez won six, and fellow Hall of Famer Adrian Beltré and Mookie Betts won silver bats during their tenures in Boston.
But only one Red Sox hitter has made Silver Slugger history, and it happened in 2018, the Red Sox's winningest season of all time. In his first season with Boston, J. D. Martinez immediately endeared himself to fans with a .330/.402/.629 slash line, 1.031 OPS, 37 doubles, 43 home runs and a league-leading 130 RBI. Martinez also won Silver Slugger awards for both his positions (outfield and designated hitter), becoming the first player to do so since the award was introduced in 1980.
Silver Slugger awards are voted on by managers and coaches around MLB who aren't allowed to vote for players on their own teams. Martinez appeared on the ballot in both of his positions, and ended up winning both despite appearing in the outfield just 57 times out of his 150 games played. Official Silver Slugger rules state that voters cannot vote for the same player in two positions. Martinez could've received enough votes to win both positions even if he was only selected once per ballot, but ballots aren't public, so we may never know how many votes he got for each position.
2018 Red Sox J. D. Martinez is the only player to win two Silver Slugger awards in the same season
Betts and Mike Trout took home the other two Silver Slugger awards in the outfield for 2018. No other full-time American League outfielder rivaled Martinez's production at the plate, which (sort of) explains his double-win. Then-Tiger Nick Castellanos slashed .298/.354/.500 with an .854 OPS, but his 23 homers and 89 RBI don't hold a candle to Martinez's numbers. Cleveland outfielder Michael Brantley slashed .309/.364/.468 with an .832 OPS, but with just 17 homers, he also didn't stand a chance against Martinez.
Many Silver Slugger voters might've felt that Martinez was snubbed in the AL MVP race. He didn't even crack the top three despite his dominance at the plate and run for the Triple Crown. Lucky for the Red Sox and their fans, Betts won the award that year, but many felt that Martinez deserved top three credit for his body of work.
Martinez is not the only player to receive Silver Slugger votes for two different positions, but he is the only player to ever win both positions at which he earned votes — and he may be the last.