Congratulations to second baseman Aaron Hill and designated hitter Adam Lind for winning Silver Slugger Awards for 2009 according to Jordan Bastian from bluejays.com. A tip of the graphite Jays cap to Bauxite perlhack for the heads up.
Left Photo - Adam Lind pinch-hits for Randy Ruiz against Seattle September 27th and singles up the middle off Miguel Batista to score Jose Bautista with the tying run in the eighth inning. The Jays would go on to win their home finale by a score of 5-4.
Center Photo - Aaron Hill is congratulated by Adam Lind after hitting his 29th homer of the season off the Angels Sean O'Sullivan in the first inning August 21st. The Jays would hang on to beat the Halos 5-4.
Right Photo - Aaron Hill batting against Minnesota's Jeff Manship on September 7th in the first inning and would later draw a walk. Hill singled in his next at-bat but would leave the game to fly home to Florida for the birth of his baby girl.
Hill batted .286/.330/.499 with 37 doubles, 36 homers and drove in 108 runs while Lind slugged his way to a line of .306/.370/.562 with 46 doubles, 35 homers and 114 RBI. It's the second award for Hill, who was also named the American League's Comeback Player of the Year.
A couple of telling stats that really illustrate Lind's breakthrough season are top 10 finishes in home runs per at-bat (16.8) and intentional walks (7) in the American League. Both Hill and Lind were in the A.L. top five for total bases with 340 and 330 respectively.
The most encouraging quote in Jordan Bastian's story comes from Hill.......
"I love -- and I know Adam feels the same way -- I love what we have and I love Toronto and I love this team. I'm excited about it. Next year, or a couple years down the road, hopefully I'll be here for a while, I would love to be on the team that brings us back to the playoffs and eventually to the World Series."
That's why he's my favourite player, folks! His uniform number helps too! :D
It's the first time the Jays have had two Silver Slugger award winners in the same season since Vernon Wells and Carlos Delgado were honoured in 2003. Delgado and Shawn Green also turned the trick back in 1999.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20091112205133623