MLB’s 2025 Silver Slugger Award Winners

• Catcher: Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners (1x)
• First Base: Nick Kurtz, Athletics (1x)
• Second Base: Jazz Chisholm Jr., New York Yankees (1x)
• Third Base: José Ramírez, Cleveland Guardians (6x)
• Shortstop: Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals (2x)
• Outfield: Aaron Judge, New York Yankees (5x)
• Outfield: Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins (1x)
• Outfield: Riley Greene, Detroit Tigers (1x)
• DH: George Springer, Toronto Blue Jays (3x)
• Utility: Zach McKinstry, Detroit Tigers (1x)

• Team: New York Yankees (2x)

National League Winners

• Catcher: Hunter Goodman, Colorado Rockies (1x)
• First Base: Pete Alonso, New York Mets (1x)
• Second Base: Ketel Marte, Arizona Diamondbacks (2x)
• Third Base: Manny Machado, San Diego Padres (3x)
• Shortstop: Geraldo Perdomo, Arizona Diamondbacks (1x)
• Outfield: Juan Soto, New York Mets (6x)
• Outfield: Corbin Carroll, Arizona Diamondbacks (1x)
• Outfield: Kyle Tucker, Chicago Cubs (2x)
• DH: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers (4x)
• Utility: Alec Burleson, St. Louis Cardinals (1x)

• Team: Los Angeles Dodgers (2x)

Plenty of First-Time Winners

This year’s Silver Slugger class sports plenty of first-time winners of the award; six new winners in the American League and five new winners in the National League. Only one of these players was a rookie though, this being 2025’s unanimous AL Rookie of the Year in Nick Kurtz of the Athletics.

Kurtz had a historic rookie season, mashing 36 home runs, driving in 86 runs, and slashing an incredible .290/.383/.619. Not to mention Kurtz posted what might’ve been the best offensive game in MLB history earlier this season: a 6-for-6 effort with four home runs and 19 total bases, tying an MLB record.

Kurtz was the only rookie to even be a finalist in Silver Slugger voting this season, but among the other first-time winners are some names that somehow hadn’t won one before 2025.

Pending free agent Pete Alonso has averaged 42 home runs per season in his seven years in MLB and holds the New York Mets’ franchise record for home runs in both a single season and career. He has received MVP votes in three different seasons to date and has five All-Star nominations, but this was his very first Silver Slugger Award.

Byron Buxton won his first Silver Slugger Award after playing 120+ games in a season for just the second time in his career (first time since 2017). Buxton has long been one of the game’s best all-around players but injuries have hampered his ability to stay on the field. Despite the amount of time he’s missed on the field, he’s been absolutely incredible for the Twins when healthy.

Returning Winners

While there are some hitters who are taking home their first of these trophies, some names stand out as repeat offenders in this area. Juan Soto and José Ramírez have won the award half a dozen times each and three-time MVP (about to be four-time) Aaron Judge has won five Silver Sluggers.

Shohei Ohtani has won his fourth Silver Slugger, all at DH, George Springer has won his third overall and first as a primary DH, and Manny Machado took home his third. Kyle Tucker won his second of these trophies and will go into free agency as a reigning Silver Slugger winner, so this might have an impact on his pending contract negotiations.

Another name to highlight is Bobby Witt Jr., who swept these individual awards this season, taking home a Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, and the Platinum Glove for the AL. His 8.0 fWAR campaign along with a 130 wRC+ show he’s clearly deserving of the award. Plus, he slugged a MLB-leading 47 doubles, becoming the ninth qualified shortstop to reach this mark since the turn of the century.

Ketel Marte, Just Baseball’s top-ranked second baseman of the 2025 season, took home Silver Slugger honors for the second consecutive season. He led the Diamondbacks with a .893 OPS and is one of three Arizona hitters to win the award this season (Carroll, Perdomo). Who knows what winning this award yet again will do for his trade value this offseason?

Snubbed Hitters

Calling any of these a “snub” isn’t meant to indicate any shortcomings or undeserving-ness of any given winner of a Silver Slugger Award, but rather this is meant to highlight some of the more impressive campaigns that won’t be honoured with this trophy. Some of the game’s best put together some incredible seasons and they just won’t get a Silver Slugger this time around.

Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies

You knew this was going to be here. Kyle Schwarber led the NL with 56 home runs and drove in more runs than any other hitter this season (132), but his season is getting completely overshadowed by Shohei Ohtani being, well… Shohei Ohtani.

Schwarber slashed .240/.365/.563 and had a 152 wRC+ and 4.9 fWAR on the season, and was the fourth-best hitter in MLB by ISO, a metric used to isolate a hitter’s pure power at the plate (.323). Unfortunately for Schwarber, Ohtani outperformed him in every one of these metrics. While it’s clear the MVP award should be Ohtani’s for the taking, the least the league could do was give Schwarber something to recognize his performance this year.

He set career highs in home runs, RBI, runs, hits, games played, stolen bases, fWAR, ISO, and had his lowest strikeout rate since 2021, but he won’t go home with any awards at all for it. Schwarber is a free agent this offseason and this is one of the greatest seasons a player has had in their contract season, so he’s going to get paid big money by someone for his efforts…some might say that’s better than an award.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto Blue Jays

This is another “snub” that is more along the lines of “he was really good but someone else was just better.” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed up a sixth-place MVP finish in 2024 with yet another strong season, tallying 23 home runs and 84 RBI while slashing .292/.381/.467 with a 137 wRC+.

Unfortunately for Vladdy, Kurtz simply just had one of the best rookie power seasons we’ve ever seen. Kurtz hit for a 162-game pace of 50 home runs and 119 RBI – and that’s Silver Slugger material. Guerrero ranked in the top 10% of hitters in virtually every offensive metric, including walking almost as much as he struck out (13.8 K%, 11.9 BB%).

Guerrero got to enjoy a trip to Game 7 of the World Series during which he posted one of the most ridiculous combinations of hitting and raw power, so losing out on the Silver Slugger Award this season likely doesn’t hurt as much as it might otherwise have. He had a ridiculous season though, to be sure – it’s just Kurtz’s year this time around.

Ben Rice, New York Yankees + Maikel Garcia, Kansas City Royals

Ben Rice and Maikel Garcia were both finalists for the AL Utility Silver Slugger Award while McKinstry took home the trophy. McKinstry slashed .259/.333/.438 with 12 home runs, 49 RBI, and 19 stolen bases while appearing in 30+ games at 3B, SS, and RF for Detroit this season.

Rice hit .255/.337/.499 with 26 home runs and 65 RBI. He grades out about the same as McKinstry defensively while being a serviceable catcher for the Yankees when they needed him to be.

Maikel Garcia had a fantastic season, taking home the Gold Glove for AL 3B this season and earning his first career All-Star nomination. He was one of MLB’s top defenders, playing 136 games at 3B and having a small handful of games at SS, 2B, and CF (one game in RF). He slashed .286/.351/.449 with 16 home runs, 23 stolen bases, and 74 RBI.

This award could’ve been given to either of these players, who greatly outperformed McKinstry at the plate and provided their team with very suitable examples of what a utility player looks like in the field.