Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Giants fans would gladly vote for four more years of Donnie. Barrels, that is.
Donovan Solano has won the Silver Slugger award for second base, signaling he was the best hitter at the position in the National League this season. It is his first Silver Slugger and easily the most incredible of any in the league this season, a remarkable honor for a 34-year-old who did not crack the majors in 2017 and ’18.
“This prize fills me with a lot of emotion and joy,” Solano said in a statement through the Giants. “I dedicate it to God who has done tremendous things with me in my career, and I take the opportunity to reach Everyone and tell them that He is real, to my family who unconditionally supports me, the Giants for giving me a second chance and all the fans for their affection since I arrived in SF. All God has done in my life with his Holy Spirit.”
Solano was a journeyman who broke into the majors in 2012 with the Marlins and bounced up and down from the minors to the majors with Miami, without much success, until 2016, when he latched on with the Yankees. He excelled at Triple-A but played just nine games in the majors, to which he wouldn’t return until ’19.
His 2017 was spent in Scranton, Pa., with the Yankees’ minor league affiliate. The next season with the Dodgers’ Triple-A team. He started the 2019 campaign with Sacramento, where it took 24 games until his promotion.
Last year he broke through in a platoon role, crushing lefty pitching en route to a startling .330 season that ended without total faith; his BABIP signaled a regression could be coming.
The Giants signed Wilmer Flores and Yolmer Sanchez, Solano again needing to hit his way onto the roster — which he did. He was viewed again as a platoon option, until his bat told Gabe Kapler he could not be removed from the lineup. Even with a cold September, Solano finished with a .326 batting average — he was hitting .400 as late as Aug. 17 — and despite the competition and a team that wanted to platoon, he played in 54 games. His .828 OPS was a tremendous value in a light-hitting position.
He’s the first Giants Silver Slugger winner since Buster Posey in 2017 and first to win as a second baseman since Jeff Kent in 2002. He’s still under team control and eligible for arbitration; the Giants will want another year of Donnie.