A complete history of the Seattle Mariners' Silver Slugger Award winners

The Seattle Mariners came into existence as a Major League Baseball franchise in 1977, so they've been around for a while. And yet, they're just three years older than the Silver Slugger Awards, which were first introduced in 1980.

The Silver Sluggers are meant to honor the "best" hitters at each position in the American League and National League each year, though there is a subjective element to how the winners are chosen. The manager and three coaches from all 30 teams get a vote, with their votes ostensibly based on statistics and general impressions.

It's not surprising that the Mariners have had their share of Silver Slugger snubs over the years, but they've also had seven different players win the award — and all seven have done so multiple times.

Here are the Mariners' all-time Silver Slugger Award winners

Ken Griffey Jr.: 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999

Griffey left Seattle after 1999, so he won his seven Silver Sluggers in a span of just nine seasons. The only misses were for an injury-marred campaign in 1995 and in 1992, when he arguably should have been a winner on the strength of a 149 OPS+ and 23 home runs.

Either way, you can pick your poison for when "The Kid" was at his best at the plate. He notably hit 56 homers in back-to-back seasons in 1997 and 1998, with the former also consisting of an AL-best .696 slugging percentage and an MLB-best 147 runs batted in.

Edgar Martínez: 1992, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003

Edgar had 10 seasons in which he finished with a .300/.400/.500 slash line, so it's a travesty that he won "only" five Silver Sluggers. The biggest miss is probably 1996, a year in which he had a .464 on-base percentage, 52 doubles and 26 homers.

That said, he was never better than in 1995, when he paced the AL with a .356 average and MLB with a .479 OBP — and all that was before he made even more history in the playoffs.

Alex Rodriguez: 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000

A-Rod ended up winning six more Silver Sluggers after he left Seattle, but the four he won as a Mariner contain multitudes. His first in 1996 came after he led the majors with a .358 average as a mere 20-year-old. Two years later, he won his second after he achieved what was only the third 40-40 season in history at the time.

Ichiro Suzuki: 2001, 2007, 2009

Just as notable is the year in which Ichiro didn't win a Silver Slugger, as even his .372 average and MLB-record 262 hits in 2004 apparently weren't good enough to warrant one. This said, at least the voters got it right with three of the other four seasons in which he hit over .350.

Bret Boone: 2001, 2003

Boone only posted a 101 OPS+ for his career, but the 2001 and 2003 seasons were the years he shined in getting his OPS+ all the way up to 153 and 140, respectively. He also topped 35 home runs and 100 runs batted in both years.

Nelson Cruz: 2015, 2017

Cruz averaged 41 home runs in the four years he played in Seattle, peaking with a career-high 44 in his first season as a Mariner in 2015. When he won his second Silver Slugger as a Mariner two years later, he led the AL with 117 RBI and set what was then a career-best OBP at .375.

Julio Rodríguez: 2022, 2023

Julio may yet win his third Silver Slugger this year after putting up a 128 OPS+ with 32 home runs and 30 stolen bases. For now, the two that he does have honor his career-best 147 OPS+ in 2022 and his first 30-30 season in 2023.