The Detroit Tigers‘ offseason of awards continued Friday, Nov. 7, as left fielder Riley Greene and utility player Zach McKinstry were named Silver Slugger winners.
The duo are the Tigers’ first Silver Slugger winners since Miguel Cabrera at first base in 2016. The award is given annually to the top hitter at each position – with three awarded in the outfield – as voted on by MLB managers and coaches. Greene is the first Tigers outfielder to win the award since J.D. Martinez won it in back-to-back years in 2014 and 2015. Greene was also a finalist in 2024.
Greene, 25, hit .258 with 36 home runs, 111 RBIs, 46 walks and 201 strikeouts across 157 games, registering an .806 OPS.
He is joined as a Silver Slugger winner in the outfield by the New York Yankees‘ Aaron Judge (in his fifth win) and the Minnesota Twins’ Byron Buxton (in his first win). Meanwhile, the Yankees’ Cody Bellinger, the Seattle Mariners’ Julio Rodríguez and the Toronto Blue Jays’ George Springer were finalists.
Among the six finalists, Greene ranks second in games (157), second in home runs (36) and second in RBIs (111), but he also ranks sixth in batting average (.258), fifth in OPS (.806), fifth in walk rate (7%), sixth in strikeout rate (30.7%) and sixth in wRC+ (121).
McKinstry is the first Tiger to win a Silver Slugger as a utility player, with that category added in 2022. He beat out Maikel Garcia of the Kansas City Royals and Ben Rice of the Yankees.
McKinstry, 30, hit .259 with 12 home runs, 49 RBIs, 46 walks and 111 strikeouts across 144 games, posting a .771 OPS.
Among the three utility finalists, McKinstry ranks second in games (142), third in home runs (12), third in RBIs (49), second in batting average (.259), third in OPS (.771), third in walk rate (9%), third in strikeout rate (21.7%) and third in wRC+ (114).
Both Greene and McKinstry represented the Tigers as All-Stars in July, with Greene winning a starting spot via the fan vote.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Riley Greene, Zach McKinstry bring home AL Silver Slugger awards for Detroit Tigers
