Mitch Garver won a Silver Slugger Award on Thursday as the American League's top-hitting catcher, and Twins teammate Nelson Cruz won as a designated hitter.
Twins' Mitch Garver, Nelson Cruz win Silver Slugger awards
The two were considered the best hitters at their positions during the 2019 season, when the Twins broke the MLB record for home runs.
November 8, 2019 at 12:19AM
Garver had 32 home runs and 67 RBI (30 homers and 65 RBI as a catcher). His .995 OPS was sixth best in Twins history among players with at least 350 at bats.
Cruz hit 41 home runs with 108 RBI and a .311 batting average. He set a Twins record with a .639 slugging percentage.
They were the first Twins teammates to win Silver Sluggers since Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in 2008.
As for the rest of the American League:
Houston had two winners in third baseman Alex Bregman and outfielder George Springer. Boston had two in shortstop Xander Bogaerts and outfielder Mookie Betts. Other AL winners were Yankees second baseman D.J. LeMahieu, Cleveland first baseman Carlos Santana and Angels outfielder Mike Trout.
Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto; Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman, second baseman Ozzie Albies and outfielder Ronald Acuna; Colorado shortstop Trevor Story; Washington third baseman Anthony Rendon; Milwaukee outfielder Christian Yelich; Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger; and Arizona pitcher Zack Greinke, who won the award despite spending the final two months of the season in the AL after getting traded to Houston.
The Twins executive was on hand with Cleveland when Mark Shapiro did the double, and Shapiro noticed then his ability to “connect across every role in the organization.”
