The finalists for the Silver Slugger Award presented by Louisville Slugger have been announced in exclusive partnership with FanSided. Rafael Devers was the lone SF Giants player to earn a nomination and the winners will be announced on November 17.

The National League Silver Slugger finalists are here! @FanSided is the official announcer of @sluggernation‘s 2026 Silver Slugger Awards. Tune in on Nov. 17th for the winners. pic.twitter.com/9jyaJCSURD

— FanSided (@FanSided) November 5, 2026

While Devers was the only current Giant who earned a nomination, two former Giants earned nods as well even though neither played in a regular season game with San Francisco.

Outfielder Tristan Peters of the Chicago White Sox was one of nine outfielders nominated for the Silver Slugger Award for American League outfielders and shortstop Otto Lopez of the Miami Marlins was one of three shortstops nominated for the Silver Slugger for National League shortstops. 

It’s easy to forget that either guy was ever with the Giants, but in the case of Peters the Giants got him in exchange for pitcher Trevor Rosenthal back in 2022. Peters didn’t do very much in the minors for San Francisco so they traded him to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for infielder Brett Wisely.

The Rays ended up giving up on Peters after he went 0-for-12 in 2025 and designated him for assignment which allowed Chicago to swoop in and snag him off waivers. That ended up being a pretty brilliant move by the White Sox as Peters was an All-Star in 2026.

He hit .265/.337/.437 with 12 home runs and 56 runs batted in across 156 games. He went on one hot stretch where he was doing things literally no MLB hitter had done since Babe Ruth which is insane.

Now the 26-year-old seems like a key fixture for Chicago going forward and just penned a great piece in The Players’ Tribune about the unlikely path that led to where he currently is. One can’t help but wonder how things might be different had the Giants held on to him.

It’s so easy to go back and say the Giants were dumb for letting him go but doing that is just intellectually dishonest. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi let go of him after he struggled in Double-A and the Brewers and Rays, two of the smartest organizations in baseball, also let him go so it’s not like the Giants were the only team to miss out on a diamond in the rough.

Still, with how poor the team’s outfield production was for much of last season it’s hard not to wish they somehow could’ve kept Peters and he had gone on to be an All-Star with San Francisco.

Lopez was another great find that got away from the Giants

We can do the same exact exercise with Lopez. He began his professional career with the Toronto Blue Jays who DFA’d him and the Giants claimed him off waivers and was with the team in spring training during 2024.

He hit .217/.333/.391 with one home run and nine runs batted in for the Giants down in Arizona but he got optioned to Triple-A in favor of Tyler Fitzgerald as the team’s utility man and was designated for assignment in April to make room for reliever Nick Avila who had a 8.49 ERA for San Francisco in 2024.

The Miami Marlins claimed him off waivers from the Giants and he’s gone on to be an incredibly productive player the last three seasons. Since 2024 he’s hit a collective .276/.325/.398 with 32 home runs, 187 RBI, and 69 stolen bases.

In his All-Star campaign in 2026 he hit .305/.349/.437 with 11 homers, 71 RBI, and 34 stolen bases. He also led the league with 191 hits, had one of the highest batting averages of any big league hitter, and grades out very favorably defensively.

Again, it’s easy to wish the Giants had gone with Lopez over Fitzgerald but Fitzgerald went on to have a breakout campaign in 2024 before fading off in 2025 so these aren’t easy decisions and usually it just comes down to luck.

Still, with how much money Willy Adames is owed and how much he struggled in 2026 it’s hard not to wish that somehow Lopez had become the guy he is now with the Giants which would have allowed San Francisco to spend the money they gave to Adames on pitching instead.

Even if neither Peters nor Lopez wins the Silver Slugger, the fact they are nominated just hammers home the fact that the Giants missed out on both guys. It’s not necessarily their fault and other teams are kicking themselves as well for not hanging onto them, but it’s disappointing nonetheless. 

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