Royals star has great chance to dethrone Yankees enemy in AL Silver Slugger battle

The Kansas City Royals were surprisingly well represented when this year’s AL Silver Slugger finalists were exclusively announced on FanSided on Thursday morning.

First and foremost, fans will hope at least one of the four Royals eligible to win a Silver Slugger this season will be able to capture some hardware.

However, when you look deeper, there’s another underlying storyline that the Royals faithful will hope they come out on top in.

Among the other finalists named was Yankees star Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second base. Of course Royals fans will remember the antics from last years postseason as well as this season’s follow up scuffle between him and Maikel Garcia where words were exchanged and no love was lost between the two All-Stars.

Now, as Chisholm hopes to take home the second base Silver Slugger and Garcia hops to nab the award at the utility spot, the rivalry could enter a whole new competitive chapter.

Could Maikel Garcia win a Silver Slugger before Jazz Chisholm Jr.?

For Garcia, he’s up against Chisholm’s Yankee teammate Ben Rice and Detroit’s Zach McKinstry for the AL utility Silver Slugger.

And there’s a real shot that Garcia is able to take home the award when the winner is announced on The Baseball Insiders YouTube channel on Nov. 7, as it seems to be more of a two horse race already – no disrespect to McKinstry.

But based on the stats, while Rice may hold the higher wRC+ and is arguably the better power hitter with a higher SLG and home run total, Garcia has the edge when it comes to hitting for average, getting on base, driving in runs and stealing bases.

Garcia also walks at a nearly identical rate to Rice (9.3% for Garcia to 9.4% for Rice) and strikes out notably less (12.6% for Chisholm to 18.9% for Rice), giving him the plate discipline nod.

It sort of makes things anyone’s game between the two.

Not to mention, Garcia had an outside argument to win the harder third base Silver Slugger if he were nominated, so now that he’s classed in a position with no José Ramírez to compete against, it seems like an easier task for him to achieve.

Chisholm also appears find himself in more of a two horse race – again no disrespect to Brandon Lowe – but the Yankees second baseman along with Jorge Polanco of the Mariners look like the clear cut favorites statistically.

But Polanco seems to have more edges over Chisholm than Rice has over Garcia. Polanco holds the higher wRC+, hits for the higher average, and gets on base and drives in runs at nearly the same rate. Chisholm’s only clear advantage is speed, as even with a higher homer count, Polanco is arguably the overall better power hitter with a SLG that’s 15 points higher.

Chisholm also may walk more than Polanco (10.9% for Chisholm to 8.0% for Polanco) but Polanco surpasses him heavily when to comes to avoiding strikeouts (27.9% for Chisholm to 15.6% for Polanco).

Nothing is certain here and no guy has a definitive claim on the award like other names may have at their respective positions. If only the two were still at the same position, as that could be absolute cinema if they were directly head-to-head.

That being said, it’s easy to see Garcia having a slight advantage to win his utility race than Chisholm has to win his second base race, meaning this newest chapter in the rivalry leans towards the Royals’ star.

Garcia also has the advantage of being the superior defender to Chisholm, having been named a Gold Glove finalist. So, if Garcia can counter Chisholm’s All-Star season with an All-Star nod of his own, a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger, it won’t be a debate who really let their game to the talking amid this over year-long feud.