DENVER—Troy Tulowitzki’s shelves are becoming packed with postseason trophies.
He’s still missing the one he covets most.
The smooth-fielding Colorado Rockies shortstop won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards for a second straight season this week. But what he craves above all else is a World Series crown, even more so after watching former teammate Matt Holliday and the St. Louis Cardinals take the title in manager Tony La Russa’s final season in charge.
And while the postseason mementos mean quite a bit to Tulowitzki, he prefers to measure success in rings rather than awards.
“It’s not even close,” Tulowitzki said Wednesday on a conference call after learning he won the Silver Slugger award that’s presented to the best hitter at each position. “I want to be doing what the Cardinals did here at the end of the year—holding up the World Series trophy.
“At the same time, if you have a team full of Gold Glovers and Silver Sluggers, your chances of winning are going to go up,” he said.
Tulowitzki turned in another fabulous year in an otherwise disappointing season for the Rockies, who wound up 21 games behind first-place Arizona in the NL West. The 27-year-old Tulowitzki is quickly cementing his place as the best in the business at shortstop.
He boasts a strong arm and vast range in the field, along with plenty of pop at the plate. That helped him become just the third NL shortstop to win both awards in two straight seasons since the Silver Slugger began being issued more than three decades ago. He joins Barry Larkin (1995-96) and Edgar Renteria (2002-03).
“Pretty special,” Tulowitzki said. “Every once in a while, I’ll take a look in the record books and see where I stand. How many Silver Sluggers did Cal Ripken have—the guys I looked up to? You always have those personal goals that you want to catch those guys.”
He’s well on his way.
Tulowitzki led NL shortstops in doubles (36), home runs (30), RBIs (105), extra-base hits (68) and total bases (292) last season.
Although those numbers were nice, he’d much rather chat about his play at shortstop. That’s what he takes tremendous pride in, especially since at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, many considered him too big to play the position.
It’s a notion he’s quickly dispelling.
“For me, being such a big guy, (coaches) always said, ‘Well, if you can play there defensively you can stay at short,'” said Tulowitzki, who had just six errors in 2011. “That’s why I took so much pride in it.”
He’s already back at work, preparing for spring training. That despite the fact the season technically just ended with St. Louis beating Texas in a thrilling seven-game World Series.
“I get that itch pretty quick,” he said.
For now, it’s nothing too aggressive, just lifting weights at a training facility in Las Vegas five days a week. He takes a break on the weekends to watch football.
Next month, Tulowitzki will begin hitting and fielding, just to keep his game in tiptop shape. He really doesn’t want to relinquish either award.
“For me, it’s about trying to run a streak of these things together,” Tulowitzki said. “I think the first one has extra meaning. It’s your first one. As a kid, that’s what I dreamed about—winning a Gold Glove. With the second one, you feel like you’re starting to establish yourself.”
