Brice Turang snubbed from second major award after NL Silver Slugger winners reveal

Brice Turang's 2024 "quantum leap" was well documented. The Milwaukee Brewers' second baseman went from being one of the worst-qualified hitters in baseball during his rookie campaign in 2023 to being a legitimate candidate for the midseason All-Star Game just a season later. His OPS jumped an impressive 80 points, but a major reason Turang went from a 1.5 bWAR player in his first season in the big leagues to a 4.7 bWAR player in his second season was his glove.

After a fine rookie season at second base, Turang took his defense to a whole new level in 2024, improving from 12 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and two Outs Above Average (OAA) to 22 and six, respectively. For his performance, Turang was not only honored with a Gold Glove Award, but he was named the National League's Platinum Glove Award winner as well, deeming him the best overall defender in the NL.

Fast forward to 2025, and Turang took an even more impressive step forward, this time at the plate. He went from hitting a total of 13 HR in his first two seasons in the league to cracking an impressive 18 longballs in 2025 alone. His slugging percentage jumped 86 points, and his OPS improved by an incredible 129 points. Despite his defense and baserunning game taking a small step backwards, Turang improved from a 4.7 bWAR player in 2024 to a 5.6 bWAR player this past season, establishing himself as one of the premier second basemen in all of MLB.

Despite his defense regressing slightly in 2025, Turang was still named a finalist for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award at second base, but ultimately lost to Nico Hoerner of the Chicago Cubs, who could end up being this year's Platinum Glove Award winner. While it's always tough to lose out to a Cub in the end-of-the-season awards, Gold Glove wasn't the award that Turang had his sights set on after his impressive 2025 season. No, after his offensive explosion last year, the Brewers' second baseman was hoping to add some silver to a trophy case already containing both gold and platinum.

Unfortunately, after the NL Silver Slugger Award winners were revealed last night on FanSided's own "The Baseball Insiders" YouTube show, Turang will have to wait at least another year before he adds a silver bat to his collection.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Ketel Marte beats out Brice Turang for NL Silver Slugger Award at 2B

Turang losing to Hoerner in the Gold Glove voting was both expected and justifiable; the Cubs' second baseman outperformed Turang in just about every defensive metric. However, when it comes to the Silver Slugger Award, Turang had a strong case for dethroning Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who has now won a silver bat in each of the last two seasons.

While the race between Marte and Turang was one that you might consider "neck and neck," the two had slightly different offensive resumes in 2025. Marte won the power race, cracking 28 homers to Turang's 18, and also got on base at a slightly higher clip than the Brewers' second baseman. However, Turang had the higher batting average, more RBIs, and played in 30 more games than Marte did, which should be worth something. Both players collected 28 doubles on the season, and while Turang walked a couple more times than Marte, he also struck out at a much higher clip.

In the end, the award really could have gone either way, but with Marte being the defending champion and having the edge when it comes to homers, he was the choice of the MLB managers and coaches who decide the winners. Similar to the All-Star Game, from which Turang was also snubbed, having a longer track record in the league generally works in your favor.

Be sure to tune in for the reveal of the American League Silver Slugger Award winners tonight at 5:00 p.m. CT on "The Baseball Insiders" YouTube show.