Most surprising Silver Slugger winner in New York Yankees history

With the annual Silver Slugger awards presentation right around the corner — exclusively on FanSided and The Baseball Insiders! — there's no better time to reacquaint yourself with some different vintages of Yankees greatness. Ah, the Tino Martinez 1997 — that was a very good year.

But among the dusty shelves, there are several rarely touched bottles that will make you go, "I'm sorry, he did what?" The Silver Slugger is for the best in the league at each position, and that means that very few players rise out of anonymity to be honored. Plenty of Yankees have been shocking All-Stars over the years; we remember 2002 Robin Ventura. It's way harder to be the agreed-upon greatest in a total stunner.

There are two directions this headline could be interpreted; either we're talking about the player who came the furthest out of nowhere to capture a rightly earned Silver Slugger, or we're talking about the Yankee who was most surprised, at the end of the year, to be awarded over someone more deserving. In this case, there's a pretty obvious answer to both questions — and, keep in mind, for any and all snubs, you can blame the manager and three coaches from each team in the league who voted for the honors.

Mike Stanley's Silver Slugger win was the Yankees' most surprising performance

Entering the 1993 season, Mike Stanley — age 30 — had never cracked 300 plate appearances in an MLB campaign. He became a Yankee via free agency, joining a club that was beginning to coalesce as a threat under Gene Michael's steady hand. Expectations were muted, if they existed at all, for Stanley's rise.

In a flash, the relative unknown put up one of the greatest breakout offensive catching seasons of the 1990s. He bashed 26 home runs, topping a previous career-high of ... eight. He hit .305 with a .923 OPS+, 50% better than the league-average. He finished 13th in the MVP voting. He racked up 4.8 bWAR.

And yet ... not only was Stanley the second-best-hitting catcher in the American League that season, but there was a better one who resided in his division. Accepting that the Yankees are the Yankees and won 88 games/finished second in the AL East ... the Baltimore Orioles won 85, finished third, and were led by Chris Hoiles behind the plate, who out-slugged Stanley. Hoiles posted 6.8 bWAR, hit .310, mashed 29 homers, cracked 1.000 with his OPS (1.001, but still, he cracked it!), and finished three spots behind Stanley in the MVP voting.

Even more baffling? Neither of them made the All-Star Game. Shoutout to Ivan Rodríguez (and his 98 OPS+) and Terry Steinbach of the A's. The game was in Baltimore. For shame.

Don Baylor's 1983 DH win was the Yankees' most questionable honorable mention

While Stanley fits every variation of the criteria, Don Baylor deserves a hat tip for his bizarre 1983 win at the DH position. In '85, he was the game's agreed-upon best at gripping and ripping; he won the "Outstanding Designated Hitter Award" in addition to his Silver Slugger, then captured DH honors again in 1986 after a year with the Monster in Boston.

But in '83, he won the Silver Slugger for hitting .303 with 21 homers and a 138 OPS+. Greg Luzinski of the White Sox won the DH award for bashing 32 homers (though he only hit .255 with a 129 OPS+ in his second-to-last full season in the game). Baylor gets the nod, per OPS+, but it's surprising not to see a 1983 crew of managers and coaches come to a homer-based consensus.

Oh, and Baylor's '85 season? 109 OPS+. Strike that, reverse it.