How 3 NY Mets players had a record-breaking season and yet none won a Silver Slugger

A 71-91 New York Mets team shouldn’t live on and yet because of the way three players performed, it’s hard to ignore the season. The 1996 Mets were caught between the lows of the early part of the decade and highs of the latter part. In an era of MLB where offense was supreme and forearms of your first baseman looked like the thighs of a bodybuilder, you were truly putting together an all-world-season if you were able to win a Silver Slugger.

The Mets had 0 Silver Slugger winners in 1996 and yet three of their players managed to put together years that still stand the test of time. The trio of 5+ WAR seasons would have, in practically any other decade, earned them every accolade imaginable. Instead, the performance from Bernard Gilkey, Todd Hundley, and Lance Johnson got them zilch.

Three of the best non-Silver Slugger performances in Mets history all came on the 1996 team

Gilkey’s 8.1 bWAR was the best in Mets history at the time and has only been surpassed by David Wright in 2007 (8.3) and Carlos Beltrain in 2006 (8.2). His 44 doubles remain a Mets single-season record. His 30 home runs and 117 RBI are massive. So is his .317/.393/.562 slash line.

It was a sign of the times. Gilkey finished a distant 14th in the MVP vote and yet only Barry Bonds with a 9.7 bWAR was better. Ken Caminiti won the award unanimously. The three Silver Slugger awards for outfielders went to Bonds, Ellis Burks, and Gary Sheffield. Burks had 40 home runs, 128 RBI, and a .344 batting average. Sheffield had 42, 120, and hit .314 with a league-best 1.090 OPS thanks to his ridiculous 142 walks.

Hundley’s 5 bWAR season included a new Mets record 41 home runs. Astonishing for a catcher, hitting in the same league as future teammate Mike Piazza left him in the dust as far as a Silver Slugger went. Piazza batted .336 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He won his fourth consecutive Silver Slugger in a year that featured a better all-around offensive game.

Hundley no longer owns any single-season Mets record. That ended in 2019 when rookie Pete Alonso slugged 53 home runs and broke the tie between Hundley and Carlos Beltran for most home runs in a season by a Mets player.

Finally, there’s Johnson. A league-best 227 hits (and a Mets record) plus 21 triples might help him sneak a Silver Slugger in other campaigns. Not 1996. Power was necessary. Johnson smacking 31 doubles and only 9 home runs to go along with all of those triples didn’t even have him in the Silver Slugger competition. In other years, maybe his .333 batting average pushes him over. Nothing in the rule book says you need to hit for power. Just ask Jeff McNeil in 2022.

The 227 hits Johnson had remains a Mets record that doesn't feel like it'll ever even get challenged. The same goes for his 21 triples. Nobody will match the speed, luck, and ability.

Those three Mets had all-time great franchise seasons. Why weren’t the Mets better? They didn’t get much help. It was a time of offensive prowess and yet only Butch Huskey joined Gilkey and Hundley with double-digit home runs. Johnson’s 69 RBI was the third-most on the team. It was a lineup driven by only three players and only mild contributions from everyone else.

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