3 recent former NY Mets players who won a Silver Slugger immediately after leaving

New York Mets history is filled with ex-players leaving and doing the unthinkable: becoming one of the best players in baseball. It’s less unimaginable now than predictable. Whenever a Mets player’s contract is up and there appears to be something left in the tank, it feels like doing something like winning a Silver Slugger is on their to-do list.

In the last ten years, the Mets have had three examples of a player leaving New York only to go on and win a Silver Slugger the year after.

Daniel Murphy - 2016, Washington Nationals

The most well-known is Daniel Murphy in 2016. He went further than a Silver Slugger. The MVP runner-up in year one after leaving the Mets, he became a killer of his former ball club whenever he had the chance. He’d actually win the Silver Slugger in both of his full seasons with the Washington Nationals before continuing his career with the Chicago Cubs in mid-2018.

Most frustrating of all was how Murphy showed the Mets exactly what he could turn into with his memorable 2015 postseason run. They chose not to re-sign him and he immediately went out and became one of the best all-around hitters in the game.

Travis d’Arnaud - 2020, Atlanta Braves

The season was short, but this one doesn’t feel like it deserves an asterisk. DFA’d by the Mets in the early part of the 2019 season, Travis d’Arnaud ended up with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a few days before finishing his season with the Tampa Bay Rays. He managed to put together a good offensive season for them. The real deal came in 2020 when, of all places, he signed with the Atlanta Braves. He’d win a Silver Slugger in his first year there.

d’Arnaud slashed .321/.386/.533 with 9 home runs in the shortened season. Was it all just the result of fewer games like it seemed to be with Dominic Smith in Flushing? Considering he was an All-Star in 2022, we can believe he might’ve just been a change of scenery guy or someone who needed a different type of coaching than what the Mets gave him.

Brandon Drury - 2022, Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres

Who won the first ever NL utility hitter Silver Slugger? It was Brandon Drury, of course. A member of the Cincinnati Reds and then teammates with Juan Soto as they took down the Mets in the playoffs, Drury was a minor league signing by New York for the 2021 season. His credible 51 game stint with a subpar Mets club led into a trip to Cincinnati where he’d put together the first part of a Silver Slugger worthy campaign.

His numbers were far more superior in Cincinnati than San Diego (as was every hitter they seemed to acquire that year). Overall, Drury batted .263/.320/.492 with 28 home runs and 87 RBI. As anyone could’ve predicted, the Los Angeles Angels bought way too much into the performance and paid him $15 million over the next two years to miss the playoffs with them.