Robert MacLeod
Published on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009 7:48PM EST Last updated on Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 9:04AM EST
The season may have been an abject failure from a team perspective but for a couple of the future cornerstones of the Toronto Blue Jays it was an unqualified success.
Second baseman Aaron Hill and outfielder Adam Lind, who were one of the few reasons people kept coming out to the ballpark at Rogers Centre, were Thursday honoured with Silver Slugger Awards.
The awards goes to those Major League Baseball players voted the best offensive players at each position in both the American and National Leagues, as selected by coaches and managers
For Hill, 27, it was the third honour that has come his way this season after being selected to play in the 2009 All-Star Game and then getting selected as the A.L.’s Comeback Player of the Year.
He posted career highs with 36 home runs, 108 runs batted in, 195 hits, 103 runs scored and 682 at-bats. The Palm Harbor, Florida, resident led Major League second basemen in home runs and RBIs.
Lind, 26, set career highs in most offensive categories, including leading the club in batting average (.305), RBI (114) & slugging (.562).
Lind also belted 35 home runs.
This marks the third time in Blue Jays history that two Blue Jays have won Sliver Slugger awards in the same season. Shaun Green and Carlos Delgado did it first in 1999. Delgado and Vernon Wells combined to win the award in 2003.
The Blue Jays placed three players on the AL Silver Slugger list in 1992 with Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter and Dave Winfield.
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