The MLB hands out Silver Slugger Awards to 10 players from each league at the end of every season, with the award recognizing the player who put up the best offensive season at every position in each league. The award has been adjusted multiple times throughout its history, which dates back to 1980. Originally, the award was handed out to nine players in each league. In 2022, a utility position was added for each league, and in 2023, a team Silver Slugger Award was added for each league, bringing the award to how it stands today.
The winners are awarded based on a vote by MLB managers and coaches, who aren't allowed to vote for players on their own team. This allows for a level of subjectivity, meaning that the awards aren't necessarily based on one singular statistic or set of statistics. Still, the award is meant to recognize the most impressive offensive players of the season. More about the award and how winners are determined can be found here. This year's Silver Slugger Award winners will be announced Nov. 9 exclusively here on FanSided and on The Baseball Insiders podcast.
Since the award came to be, the Twins have had 21 Silver Sluggers awarded, while they have not yet won the team award. Three times, the Twins have had two Silver Sluggers in the same season, with the most recent occurrence being after one of the more memorable seasons in recent team history. Perhaps they'll add another to the history books this year. Let's dive in and take a look at every winner in Twins history.
Every Silver Slugger Award winner in Twins History
Kirby Puckett, OF: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994
No surprises here, right? Our team site is literally named after the guy. Puckett was the first Twin to win the award, the only player in team history to win six of them, and the only player in team history to win four of them consecutively. Perhaps the most notable season of the six was in 1988, when Puckett batted .356 with 24 homers, 121 RBI, a .920 OPS, and a league-leading 234 hits, which was the second of three consecutive and four career seasons in which Puckett led the American League in hits. He accumulated 7.8 WAR in the fantastic season, earning him a third-place finish in the AL MVP race.
Chuck Knoblauch, 2B: 1995, 1997
A two-time winner of the award, Knoblauch is the only Twin to win a Silver Slugger at second base, despite valiant efforts from Brian Dozier. In '95, Knoblauch slashed .333/.424/.487 with 53 extra-base hits and 6.7 WAR. His best offensive season actually came in 1996, where he was beaten out by Roberto Alomar despite totaling 8.7 WAR and putting up career highs in a handful of offensive statistics.
Paul Molitor, DH: 1996
At the tail end of a Hall of Fame career, Molitor still had one last Silver Slugger season in him. It was actually the fourth time in Molitor's career that he won the award, but the only one that came with the Twins. Molitor batted .341 with an AL-best 225 hits, nine of which were home runs. Apparently, the organization was so impressed by Molitor's season that they later hired him to manage the team.
Joe Mauer, C: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013
One of the most beloved players in team history, Mauer is the only player aside from Kirby Puckett to earn Silver Slugger honors more than twice as a Twin, doing so five times, including three of which were consecutive. The most impressive season of his Hall of Fame career was undoubtedly his 2009 season, where he slashed .365/.444/.587, all of which led the American League. Mauer also totaled 28 home runs, 96 RBI, 191 hits and 7.8 WAR, all career-high marks. The outstanding season was enough for Mauer to win American League MVP, and to this day, he is the last Twin and the last American League catcher to do so.
Justin Morneau, 1B: 2006, 2008
Morneau won the award twice alongside the aforementioned Joe Mauer, with the two forming one of the most memorable duos in Twins history. In 2006, Morneau slashed .321/.375/.559 with 34 homers, 37 doubles, and 130 RBI on his way to the American League MVP. In the midst of his 2008 Silver Slugger season, Morneau also made a quick pitstop to win the Home Run Derby in the Bronx.
Josh Willingham, OF: 2012
Willingham played just two seasons with the Twins, with the first coming in 2012. He slashed .260/.366/.524 with 35 homers and 110 RBI. It was undoubtedly the best season of Willingham's 11-year MLB career and was enough to earn him Silver Slugger honors.
Mitch Garver, C: 2019
Bomba Squad mention! One of two Twins to win the award in 2019, Garver was an integral part of one of the most fun and memorable seasons in franchise history, the notorious "Bomba Squad" Twins team that broke the single-season record for the most home runs by a team with 307. Despite playing in just 93 games, Garver still totaled 31 home runs and 4.1 WAR while slashing .273/.365/.630. His numbers, when adjusted to a 162-game pace, would've put him in the conversation for AL MVP alongside Mike Trout, who won the award that season.
Nelson Cruz, DH: 2019, 2020
The other member of the Bomba Squad to win a Silver Slugger Award, Cruz followed up the 2019 season by winning the award again in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, his fourth of his career. In 2019, Cruz slashed .311/.392/.639 with 41 homers, 108 RBI, and a career-best 1.031 OPS. He was a top-10 finisher in the AL MVP voting in both seasons.
Luis Arráez, UTIL: 2022
The most recent Twin to win a Silver Slugger Award was Luis Arráez, winning it for the utility position in the first year of its addition to the award. It marked the first of three consecutive years in which Arráez would win a batting title. In the 2022 season, his final season as a Twin, Arráez batted .316 with eight homers, 31 doubles, 173 hits, and 4.1 WAR.