J.P. Crawford, Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez Named Silver Slugger Finalists
The shortstop, catcher and center fielder combined for 274 runs, 81 home runs, 179 extra-base hits and 15.5 fWAR in 2023
SEATTLE, Wash. — Major League Baseball and Louisville Slugger® named three Seattle Mariners as American League finalists for the Silver Slugger Award at their respective positions: shortstop J.P. Crawford, catcher Cal Raleigh and outfielder Julio Rodríguez. Crawford is a first-time finalist for the award, while Raleigh was named a finalist in 2022. Rodríguez was a recipient of the Silver Slugger award in 2022, becoming the second rookie in franchise history to win the award (also: Ichiro Suzuki in 2001).
The winners will be announced on Thursday, November 9.
Crawford, 28, is joined by Corey Seager-TEX and Bobby Witt Jr.-KC as finalists at shortstop in the American League. Crawford hit .266 (142x534) with 94 runs, 35 doubles, 19 home runs, 65 RBI and 2 stolen bases, getting on base at a .380 clip and slugging .438 (.818 OPS) in 145 games in 2023. He set career-highs in several categories, including walks, on base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, home runs, RBI and runs scored.
The shortstop tied the franchise record with 6 leadoff home runs, matching Julio Rodríguez’s mark from 2022. Crawford became the first player in franchise history to lead the league in walks, and the first shortstop to lead his league in walks since Pee-Wee Reese led the NL with 104 walks for the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers (min. 60% of games at SS). Among AL shortstops in 2023, Crawford ranked 2nd in OBP, 5th in slugging percentage, 2nd in OPS, 2nd in OPS+ (131), 3rd in bWAR (5.0) and 3rd in fWAR (4.9).
Raleigh, 26, joins Adley Rutschman-BAL and Salvador Perez-KC as the finalists at catcher in the AL. Raleigh hit .232 (119x513) with 78 runs, 23 doubles, 1 triple, 30 home runs and 75 RBI, getting on base at a .306 clip and slugging .456 (.762 OPS) in 145 games in 2023. Raleigh set the franchise record for most home runs by a catcher, surpassing his own record of 27 in 2022. He also set the Mariners record for most extra-base hits by a backstop with 54, passing Mike Zunino’s 50 in 2017.
The switch-hitter led Major League catchers with 30 home runs in 2023, ranking ahead of Francisco Alvarez-NYM (25), Salvador Perez-KC (23) and Yainer Díaz-HOU (23). He also ranked 3rd in fWAR among catchers with 4.7 trailing only William Contreras-MIL (5.4) and Adley Rutschman-BAL (5.1). He became the 29th catcher in Major League history to hit 30+ home runs in a season, and the first since Salvador Perez-KC (48 in 2021) and Mike Zunino-TB (33 in 2021). He also became the first catcher to lead the Majors outright in both home runs and catcher caught stealing (30 HR, 24 CCS) in the same season since Mike Piazza-LAD in 1993 (35 HR, 58 CCS).
Rodríguez, 22, was named a finalist alongside Adolis García-TEX, Luis Robert Jr.-CWS, Kyle Tucker-HOU, Anthony Santander-BAL, Aaron Judge-NYY and Randy Arozarena-TB. Rodríguez hit .275 (180x654) with 102 runs, 37 doubles, 2 triples, 32 home runs, 37 stolen bases and 103 RBI, getting on base at a .333 clip and slugging .485 (.818 OPS) in 155 games. The two-time All-Star became the 44th player in MLB history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season, and just the 2nd player in Mariners history to accomplish the feat, joining Alex Rodriguez (1998). He also became the 4th player age 22-or-younger to join the 30/30 club, joining Rodriguez (1998), Ronald Acuña Jr.-ATL (2019) and Mike Trout-LAA (2012).
The Dominican-born outfielder was excellent in the second half of the season, batting .308 (89x289) with 50 runs, 19 doubles, 1 triple, 19 home runs, 54 RBI, 15 stolen bases and 54 RBI with a .941 OPS in 68 games after the All-Star Break. He finished the season leading AL outfielders in fWAR (5.9) and stolen bases while ranking in the top 5 in average (3rd), on base percentage (5th), slugging percentage (5th), OPS (4th), home runs (3rd), RBI (3rd), runs (2nd), extra-base hits (T-2nd, 71), bWAR (2nd, 5.3) and OPS+ (T-2nd, 128).
