Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Golden Bats = Silver Sluggers

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.

Posted by #2JBrumfield on Thursday, November 12 2009 @ 11:12 PM EST.

Golden Bats = Silver Sluggers | 8 comments | Create New Account

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Mike Forbes - Friday, November 13 2009 @ 01:50 AM EST (#208360) #

Congrats to Adam and Aaron. I might look into an Aaron Hill jersey.

Denoit - Friday, November 13 2009 @ 07:21 AM EST (#208361) #

Lets just hope these guys can keep this up. I was all excited about a certain player who had a breakthrough season a few years ago only to see him shipped out for nothing this summer. I will say though, the character of Hill and Lind seem to be a bit different than Rios. Hopefully Lind and Snider can turn out to be something similar to Mourneau and Mauer of the Twins. Two sweet lefthanded bats that will carry the team. Hill on the otherhand had alot of "just barley" homeruns but even if his total drops to the 20 - 25 range I will take it.

MatO - Friday, November 13 2009 @ 12:29 PM EST (#208372) #

had alot of "just barley" homeruns

Are you accusing Hill of using beer as a performance enhancer?

Mike Green - Friday, November 13 2009 @ 12:41 PM EST (#208373) #

Well, it's true that there was a lot of hop in his bat at the end of the season.

Matthew E - Friday, November 13 2009 @ 12:56 PM EST (#208374) #

Are you accusing Hill of using beer as a performance enhancer?

Now, now, calm down; I don't want to see the two of you at lagerheads.

Dave Rutt - Friday, November 13 2009 @ 01:04 PM EST (#208375) #

I guess Hill's fly balls caught a couple of good draughts this year.

Mick Doherty - Friday, November 13 2009 @ 05:13 PM EST (#208381) #

Awww. mannnn ... I saw the typo and immediately had four or five puns on tap, but kept reading and realized the genius Bauxites had their heads up and had already drafted them all. Well, a beer in the hand is worth two in the Busch, Bud.

Thomas - Saturday, November 14 2009 @ 03:21 PM EST (#208397) #

I was just looking over the stats and I didn't realize Robinson Cano was so good at the plate this year. I hate having to say this, but for once a Yankee may have been robbed of an award.

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