Nationals: Trea Turner lacks flash, loses Silver Slugger to Fernando Tatis

The statistics say Trea Turner should have been the winner of the Silver Slugger Award for National League shortstops, he just doesn’t promote himself well enough.

How many literary pieces begin with, Webster’s Dictionary defines (insert term here) as…..? Well, the Silver Slugger Award doesn’t have a definition in the dictionary, though, it is awarded to the best offensive player at each position in both leagues as determined by coaches and managers of Major League Baseball. So, Trea Turner needs to go introduce himself to more opposing coaches and managers.

With the announcement Fernando Tatis Jr. won the SS Award for shortstops in the National League, I had to do a double take at the rationale for giving the hardware.

The best offensive player. Not the player on the best team. Not the player on the team with a better record than others. Not the player who hits the most home runs at the position. Not the player who plays on a playoff team.

The best offensive player.

Trea Turner was a better offensive player in 2020 than Fernando Tatis. If we want to say Tatis was a better power hitter, he only hit five more home runs than Turner. Tatis only drove in four more runs than Turner, and Trea batted leadoff most of the year.

Tatis struck out nearly 30 times more than Turner and grounded into more double plays. You can say Tatis hit .400 with runners in scoring position as opposed to Turner’s .378. I’ll counter with Turner hit .412 with two outs and RISP as compared to Tatis who hit .143 in the same situations.

The best offensive player? I don’t know what to say to Trea Turner on how to be better than Tatis. He stole more bases. He had longer hitting streaks and on-base streaks. Was the total body of work looked at here?

I know. Trea, you have to slap your chest when you hit home runs and point your finger at the dugout. You have to work on your bat-flip game and be louder on the field. You have to draw more attention to yourself so opposing coaches and managers know who you are.

Nothing against Fernando Tatis Jr. He’s young (6 years younger than Trea) and exciting (flash bests hustle) and great for the game of baseball. He was not the best offensive shortstop in the National League this year. No way.