Seattle Mariners' Julio Rodriguez Joins Elite Club in Team, Baseball History with Silver Slugger Win

By winning his second straight Silver Slugger Award on Thursday night, Seattle Mariners' superstar Julio Rodriguez joined a rare club in both team - and baseball - history.

Seattle Mariners' superstar outfielder Julio Rodriguez made some elite history on Thursday night by capturing his second Silver Slugger Award in as many seasons.

Per Mariners PR:

Julio is the 7th player to win multiple Silver Slugger Awards with Seattle, joining Ken Griffey Jr. (7x), Edgar Martinez (5x), Alex Rodriguez (4x), Ichiro Suzuki (3x), Bret Boone (2x) and Nelson Cruz (2x).

Since the award was first given out in 1980, only 5 players have won a Silver Slugger in their rookie season and followed that up with a Silver Slugger in their next season: catchers Benito Santiago (1987–88) and Mike Piazza (1993–94), outfielder Mike Trout (2012–13), shortstop Corey Seager (2016–17) and Julio Rodríguez (2022–23).

That's an impressive list for Rodriguez on both fronts, who is one of the best young players in all of baseball.

The 22-year-old registered 180 hits this year, connecting for a .275 batting average and a .333 on-base percentage. He hit 32 homers to lead the Mariners and drove in 103 runs. He stole 37 bases and was the catalyst for the M's batting order.

Unfortunately, Seattle missed the playoffs by 1.0 game this year, finishing third in the deeply-talented American League West. Rodriguez will have to put up big numbers again in 2024 to help them get back to playing in October.

Seattle needs help in the outfield alongside Rodriguez as Teoscar Hernandez is a free agent. They also need help at second base, which was a black hole in the lineup this past year.

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