Hamilton and Guerrero named 2010 Silver Sluggers
ARLINGTON — Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton and designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero were both named winners of the 2010 Silver Slugger Award in an announcement tonight by Louisville Slugger on MLB Network. It is the second such award for Hamilton and the eighth honor for Guerrero.
Hamilton led the major leagues with a .359 batting average and .633 slugging percentage for Texas in 2010. He had 32 home runs, 95 runs scored, 40 doubles, and 100 RBI. He became the first American League player with minimums of a .359 average, 40 doubles, 30 home runs, and 100 RBI since Lou Gehrig in 1934. He was also named the MVP of the American League Championship Series in the Rangers’ win over the Yankees.
Hamilton was also named to the Silver Slugger team in 2008, as he is the eighth Texas player selected for the honor multiple times. The others: Ivan Rodriguez (6), Juan Gonzalez (5), Julio Franco (3), Alex Rodriguez (3), Al Oliver (2), Alfonso Soriano (2), and Mark Teixeira (2). Gonzalez is the only other Texas outfielder selected twice, as Oliver was honored once as an outfielder and once as the designated hitter. Hamilton is the only A.L. outfielder with multiple Silver Slugger Awards over the past three seasons (2008-10).
Guerrero batted .300 with 29 home runs and a team-leading 115 RBI in his first
season with Texas, ranking among A.L. leaders in RBI (4th), total bases (9th, 294), and home runs (T9th). It was his 10th season of 100-or-more RBI, the 12th time he has hit 25-or-more home runs in a campaign.
Guerrero becomes just the eighth player since the Silver Slugger’s inception in 1980 to win the award at least eight times. The others: Barry Bonds (12), Alex Rodriguez (10), Mike Piazza (10), Barry Larkin (9), Manny Ramirez (9), Wade Boggs (8), and Cal Ripken (8). The only other active players with eight Silver Slugger honors are Rodriguez and Ramirez. Each of Guerrero’s seven other awards came as an outfielder: 1999-2000-2002 with Montreal, and 2004-2005-2006-2007 (LA of Anaheim). Guerrero is the fourth Ranger to be honored as a designated hitter, joining Al Oliver (1981), Harold Baines (1989), and Rafael Palmeiro (1999).
Over the last five seasons (2006-10), Hamilton (2) and Guerrero (1) are the only Rangers to be voted to the Silver Slugger team.
The Silver Slugger Awards were in studio for the announcement tonight on MLB Network. Each trophy is three feet tall and bears the engraved name of the winner and his league’s Silver Slugger teammates. In a ceremony early in the 2011 season, the specially designed Silver Slugger Award will be presented to each player by a representative of the Hillerich & Bradsby Co., makers of Louisville Slugger, the Official Bat of Major League Baseball.
