Michael Cuddyer earned his 1st Silver Slugger Wednesday night as he was nominated with two other Rockies: catcher Wilin Rosario and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.
Cuddyer is coming off of a stellar season in which he represented the Colorado Rockies in the All-Star Game, alongside teammates Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez. He won the NL Batting Title, hitting .331 with 20 homeruns, and 84 RBI’s. He had an on-base percentage of .389, and slugging percentage of .530 and was the catalyst for the Rockies when Tulo and Cargo went down due to injury, putting on a show for the fans as he had a 27-game hit streak.
Troy Tulowitzki came into the night as the sure favorite in my opinion, to win the Silver Slugger for NL shortstops. But in the end, Nationals SS Ian Desmond came away with the award. I believe it was a snub to say the least, even though Desmond only played in just 32 more games than Tulowitzki. Desmond finished his year batting .280, with 20 homeruns, and 80 RBI’s. Tulo on the other hand hit a respectable .312, with 25 homeruns, and 82 RBI’s. You do the math. Tulo had a better batting average by 32 points, and here is their on-base percentage, and slugging percentage splits:
Ian Desmond: OBP .331, SLUG .453.
Troy Tulowitzki: OBP .391, SLUG .540.
By the way it looks, Tulo was the clear-cut favorite, but injuries derailed another spectacular season for him. I’m assuming that the only reason Desmond won over him,was because he played in 32-more games. He still outperformed Ian Desmond in every way. No disrespect to Ian and the season he had, but this award belonged to Troy Tulowitzki.
Wilin Rosario had a great offensive season for the Rockies, bouncing back from a sluggish May and June, hitting .292, with 21 homeruns and 79 RBI’s. In the end, he wound up losing to Cardinals All-Star Yadier Molina. Molina hit .319, with 12 homeruns, and 80 RBI’s. Comparison of OBP, Slugging Percentage between Molina and Rosario:
Yadier Molina: OBP .359, SLUG .477.
Wilin Rosario: OBP .315, SLUG .486.
Rosario is more of a power hitter than Molina, which is why the slugging percentage is higher. Molina is more of a contact hitter, and his batting average proves it. Rosario is still young and will have many opportunities to win a silver slugger. He just needs to improve defensively as he led NL Catchers with 9 passed balls.
All-in-all, it was great season Michael Cuddyer win his first Silver Slugger Award. The guy just goes out there and competes every day. Tulowitzki and Rosario will have their chances to earn the award next year and so on, but this is nothing to hang their heads on considering the wonderful seasons they had.
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