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Nationals’ Daniel Murphy and Wilson Ramos win NL Silver Slugger Awards

Nationals’ second baseman Daniel Murphy and catcher Wilson Ramos were named Silver Slugger award winners at their respective positions tonight.

Washington Nationals v Kansas City Royals Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images

He’s a finalist for the NL MVP. He was voted the NL Outstanding Player in the Players’ Choice Awards. Now Daniel Murphy is a Silver Slugger as well. For the first time in his career, Murphy was awarded the Silver Slugger, which is awarded to the top offensive player at each position in each league as voted on by MLB managers and coaches.

Murphy, 31, put up a .347/.390/.595 line with 47 doubles, five triples and 25 home runs in 142 games and 582 plate appearances in the first year of his 3-year/$37.5M contract with the Washington Nationals. Murphy posted career highs in doubles, triples, HRs, RBIs and finished at a career-best 156 wRC+ and 5.5 fWAR.

Murphy made his second appearances in the All-Star Game this past season, and set a franchise record for the Nationals with 47 hits in a single month (May), while tying the single season franchise records (2005-present) for total hits in a single season (184) and doubles (47).

Nationals’ catcher Wilson Ramos earned his first Silver Slugger Award as well for his big offensive season in D.C. which saw the 29-year-old backstop post a .307/.354/.496 line with 25 doubles and 22 home runs in 131 games and 523 PAs, over which he was worth a career-best 3.5 fWAR and put up a career-high 124 wRC+.

Ramos, now a free agent after the Nationals declined to make a qualifying offer to the catcher, earned his first All-Star nod as well, but his season ended prematurely when he suffered the second significant injury to his right knee.

He underwent surgery on the knee in mid-October, and is expected to be back in the first few months of the 2017 campaign.

Murphy and Ramos join Alfonso Soriano (2006), Ryan Zimmerman (2009-2010), Ian Desmond (2012-13-14), Stephen Strasburg (2012), Adam LaRoche (2012), Anthony Rendon (2014) and Bryce Harper (2015) as the franchise’s (2005-present) previous Silver Slugger Award winners.