1 Angels Silver Slugger one-hit wonder winner you won't believe once earned the honor

Los Angeles Angels players outside of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani have not won many awards in recent years. Trout and Ohtani have several MVPs between them, but other than that there's not a lot of honors Angels fans can point to since Arte Moreno became the owner of the organization. Even an award like the Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger eludes many Angels players. However, there is one particularly maligned Angels player who once took home the award...although, there's a massive caveat with him.

1 Angels Silver Slugger one-hit wonder winner you won't believe once earned the honor

Then-Angels general manager Billy Eppler traded for Justin Upton from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for minor leaguers Grayson Long and Elvin Rodriguez (who was the player to be named later) in 2017. In 125 games with the Tigers that season, Upton was posting a .279/.362/.542/.904 slashline with 28 home runs and 94 RBIs. His rate stats largely carried over when he arrived to Anaheim, as he posted a solid .245/.357/.531/.887 post trade deadline.

At the end of the season, Upton was awarded a Silver Slugger award as an American League outfielder for totaling 35 home runs, 109 RBIs and 100 runs scored. Upton's 109 RBIs were tied for 8th most in baseball that season. He was cemented as one of the best hitters in baseball, but unfortunately that wound up being the last season in which he was so productive.

Upton spent the next four seasons with the Angels, and totaled a .231/.319/.435/.754 slash -- a far cry from his stellar 2017 campaign. Outside of Ohtani, Anthony Rendon and Albert Pujols, Upton was the biggest star that the Angels put next to Trout in their lineups during the 11-year postseason drought. He did hit 30 home runs in 2018, but struck out a whopping 176 times that campaign which were the sixth-most in baseball (future-Angels player Yoán Moncada actually led the league in Ks that year, and Chris Taylor had the fifth-most). Suffice to say, he would have fit right into the 2025 batting order!

Upton was unceremoniously released by Perry Minasian during 2022 spring training, after there were talks of the long-time outfielder taking reps at first base to boost his value. picked up by the Seattle Mariners, and lasted just 17 games. He has not played in major league baseball since. Angels fans have a select few favorite Justin Upton moments during his tenure with their favorite team, but his Silver Slugger award might be atop the list.