ARLINGTON, Texas — Things continue to look up for your 2023 Texas Rangers.
After winning the franchise's first ever World Series title, the players from this year's roster also keep being rewarded for their performance in the form of season-ending awards.
On Thursday, Major League Baseball announced the recipients of the 2023 Silver Slugger Awards -- awarded to the best hitter at each position for the season -- and included the Rangers' $500 million middle infield of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien in the reveal.
Seager earned the nod at shortstop, beating out Seattle's J.P. Crawford and Kansas City's Bobby Witt Jr. for the title. In just 119 games acoss the 2023 season, Seager hit 33 home runs, 96 RBIs and an AL-high 42 doubles. He also finished second in the AL batting average race, hitting .327 while also scoring 88 runs. It's the third time Seager's won Silver Slugger honors.
Semien, meanwhile, edged out the Angels' Brandon Drury and the Yankees' Gleyber Torres for the award -- the second such win of his career. Semien led the AL in 2023 with 185 hits and 122 runs scored, and hit .276 on the year while also padding his stat line with 29 homers, 100 RBIs and 14 steals.
Along with two-way Angels player Shohei Ohtani -- a free agent the Rangers could be looking at this offseason -- Seager and Semien are also finalists for the 2023 AL MVP award. The winner of that honor will be revealed on Nov. 16.
Seager and Semien's teammates Nathaniel Lowe and Adolis Garcia had also been named finalists for Silver Slugger honors -- at first base and outfield, respectively -- but failed to make the final cut. For his part, Lowe did earn the title last season.
Interestingly, Seager and Semien suffered similar fates when the 2023 Gold Glove winners were revealed earlier this week. Both were named finalists but didn't earn the title; Garcia, Lowe and catcher Jonah Heim, however, did get those awards -- each for the first time in their career. (Semien won a Gold Glove in 2021; Seager has never won one.)