Ryan Zimmerman Takes The Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards
Ryan Zimmerman pulled off a rare sweep last week as he took home two of baseball’s post-season awards (although they are of lesser significance than some others).
Zimmerman captured the Gold Glove Award and the Silver Slugger award in the National League this year. Unlike the Rookie of the Year or the Most Valuable Player, these awards are given out to one player at each position and Zimmerman earned both awards for National League third basemen.
All-in-all it was a great year for the Nationals’ young third-sacker. He went to his first All-Star game this year and now has added two yearly achievement awards to his resume which is growing each year. On top of all that, Zimmerman signed a contract extension with the Nats earlier this year which bought out the last two years of arbitration as well as the first three years of his free-agency. The deal will pay him $45,000,000 over the course of his contract (plus tons of incentives) and will culminate in 2013 with a $14,000,000 salary.
Zimmerman had a career year this year with career highs in AVG (.292), OBP (.364), SLG (.525), OPS (.888), HR (33), and R (110). He also played in 157 games at 3B.
Of course, what Nats fans are hoping is that this is just the start of a budding superstar career for Zimm. Hopefully the team continues to build around him and put the pieces in place to help him succeed.
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