LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts and Mike Trout, arguably the two best players in baseball, were given Silver Slugger awards Thursday as the top hitters at their positions in their respective leagues.
Betts was recognized for his offensive production days after he was named a Gold Glove award winner for his work in right field for the fifth time in his career. He is the sixth player in Los Angeles Dodgers history to win the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards in the same season.
It is Betts' third straight Silver Slugger award, fourth overall, and first in the National League after batting .292 with a .927 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 16 home runs and 10 stolen bases in 55 games.
He then starred in the postseason — on the bases, on defense, and with the bat — to help the Dodgers win the World Series while the Los Angeles Angels were left out of the tournament for the sixth consecutive year despite another elite season from Trout.
Trout, a center fielder, hit .281 with 17 home runs and a .993 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in 53 games. He became the Angels' all-time home run leader when he clubbed the 300th of his career in August.
He is the first player to win the award eight times before his age-29 season. He is the fifth player to ever win the award eight times in the American League and the third outfielder in either league to win eight times, joining Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez. The Angels, however, finished in fourth place in the American League West at 26-34.
Trout wasn't named a finalist for the AL MVP for the first time in three years and just the second time in his nine full seasons. Betts is in the top three in the NL, and the winner will be announced Nov. 12.
