Braves Hitters Albies, Freeman, Riley & Fried Lead MLB With Silver Slugger Award Wins

ATLANTA — The World Champion Atlanta Braves celebrate yet another distinction with top hitters.

The team’s infield led Major League Baseball with four Silver Slugger Award winners announced Thursday on MLB Network.

Second baseman Ozzie Albies, pitcher Max Fried, third baseman Austin Riley, and first baseman Freddie Freeman won recognition for their offensive prowess during the 2021 season, tying for the second most winners behind the 1980 St. Louis Cardinals, according to mlb.com.

Freeman logs his third win in a row, logging a .300 batting average with 31 homers, an on-base plus slugging percentage (reflecting hitting for power plus on-base average) of .873, and a National League-leading 120 runs scored over 159 games. The only Braves with more Silver Slugger Awards were Brian McCann with five, Dale Murphy with four, and Tom Glavine with four.

Albies collects his second Silver Slugger Award and joined Javier Baez, Alphonso Soriano, and Hall-of-Famer Ryne Sandberg as the fourth second baseman to record 30-plus home runs, 20-plus steals, and 100-plus RBIs in a single season.

Riley is the first Braves third baseman since Chipper Jones in 2000 to win the award, recording his first with a .303 batting average, 33 homers and 107 RBIs.

Fried is the only MLB pitcher considered for the award for this season, led the National League with 15 hits and is the first Atlanta pitcher to win the Silver Slugger Award since 2003 when Mike Hampton gathered the prize. For the 2021 season, Fried batted .273 and logged a .322 on-base percentage over 67 at-bats.

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