Gold Glove Winners!

The Gold Glove winners were released last night, and some maintained their Gold Glove streak, while others received their first. The Orioles and the Royals dominated the lineup with three awards each. There weren’t too many surprises here, as some players had the best defensive seasons not only in their career, but ever in their position.

Here are the winners for the 2013 Gold Glove Awards:

AL:

P          R.A. Dickey* - Blue Jays

C         Salvador Perez – Royals

1B       Eric Hosmer – Royals

2B       Dustin Pedroia* – Red Sox

3B       Manny Machado* – Orioles

SS        J.J. Hardy – Orioles

LF       Alex Gordon* – Royals

CF       Adam Jones – Orioles

RF       Shane Victoriono – Red Sox

NL:

P          Adam Wainwright – Cardinals

C         Yadier Molina* – Cardinals

1B       Paul Goldschmidt* - Diamondbacks

2B       Brandon Phillips – Reds

3B       Nolan Arenado -  Rockies

SS        Andrelton Simmons* - Braves

LF       Carlos Gonzalez – Rockies

CF       Carlos Gomez* - Brewers

RF       Gerardo Parra* - Diamondbacks

*indicates that the player also won the Fielding Bible Award, which combines both AL and NL into nine awards, one for each position.

Like I said before, there are some surprises here, and there are no surprises here. Let’s look at the “no surprise” picks first before things get interesting.

I don’t even have to name them. Basically my no surprises are the ones who won the Fielding Bible Award for their position, minus Paul Goldschmidt and R.A. Dickey. The reason why I don’t say Goldschmidt was a shoe-in was because 1B Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs also had a great year, but Goldy deserved it. 

Goldschmidt also won the Hank Aaron Award for best offensive player in the NL (AL was Miguel Cabrera). With a Hank Aaron Award and now a Gold Glove, Goldschmidt should really be one of the tops in the MVP race.

I don’t say R.A. Dickey because the gold glove for pitching is important, but it’s much easier to get one than any other position. That’s why usually the Gold Glove for pitching is dominated by one pitcher; From 1991 to 2006, only three pitchers won it in the AL (Mark Langston, Mike Mussina, and Kenny Rogers), and Greg Maddux won 13 Gold Gloves in a row (he finished with 18).

Molina, Pedroia, Gomez, and Simmons must have been unanimous. Yadier Molina is the best defensive catcher baseball has seen since Pudge Rodriguez, whether you accept it or not. It’s Molina’s sixth straight Gold Glove, accompanied with a 2.1 defensive WAR this year.

I love Dustin Pedroia’s story: no scouts like him when he was 26 in 2006 because of his shortness, but then a guy named Nate Silver comes along and proves statistically that Pedroia is one of the top young players in baseball. He showed them, as Pedroia would win Rookie of the Year, then MVP the next year. He put on a dWAR of 2.3 this year, matching his career high.

I’ve mentioned dWAR twice now. The Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) convinced Rawlings to add a sabermetric element into the balloting, so now there are 30 votes determining the player sabermetrically, or about 25% of the process.

I mention this because Andrelton Simmons, Carlos Gomez, and Nolan Arenado all had some of the best defensive years sabermetrically… ever. He was the best defensive player this year, and he proved that by having some of the most outstanding plays at the shortstop position.

He led the Majors with 41 Defensive Runs Saves, meaning that he saved 41 runs that would have cost the Braves, but instead were outs. He also had a 5.4 dWAR this year, which is UNHEARD OF. Last year, 2B Darwin Barney led the Majors with the best dWAR at 3.5, and that was unheard of back then.

The kid wasn’t all ever in offense either: he batted only .248/.296/.396, but with his defensive capabilities, he ended up with a 6.7 WAR. That just goes to show ya that offense isn’t everything.

 

Carlos Gomez is another statistic nerd’s favorite. He’s just like Mike Trout, but hits for a little less contact, and can’t get on base as well. He is, however, just as good as Trout in defense. Gomez robbed home run after home run, including this one, where he robbed Joey Votto’s home run to end the game.

He had a 4.6 dWAR, and finished with an 8.4 WAR. He batted .284/.338/.506 with 24 homers, 73 RBI’s, and 40 steals, and should be top 3 in the MVP balloting. He won’t be, but he should be.

Manny Machado is another great name to look at. He had a 6.5 WAR this year, with a 4.4 dWar. He also led the AL in at-bats (667) and doubles (51). Check out this play that he made in the all-star game, getting, who else, Paul Goldschmidt to ground out.

Nolan Arenado becomes the first rookie since Ichiro to win a Gold Glove as a Rookie. Ichrio, who won it in 2001, won both Rookie of the Year and MVP. Unfortunately for Arenado, there are so many other candidates for Rookie of the Year, so he probably won’t win.

The only player that I’m real surprised about is Brandon Phillips. Yes, this is his 4^th Gold Glove Award, and yes, Phillips has had some clutch plays this year, but when you look at it statistically, Cubs’ Darwin Barney deserved to win his 2^nd straight.

Phillips had -1 defensive runs saved and a .4 dWAR, while Barney had a MLB best .993 fielding percentage (best for everyday second basemen), and a 1.4 dWAR.  Barney also had a 71-game errorless streak to start off the season, and ended the season without an error in 52 games.

That was my only argument, but besides that, everything else seems right. I really like the addition of the 25% factor for sabermetrics, and I think that will help determine the right player for the award more accurately. It might even raise in a few years.

Email me at statsbuddy42@gmail.com for any questions/comments/concerns.

-Evan Boyd