The finalists for the Gold Glove Awards were announced today by Rawlings, as voted on by managers and coaches, with some additional influence coming from a set of statistical metrics.
The Chicago Cubs landed just one finalist this year, but it’s a very deserving one:
By all reasonable measures, Happ was one of the best defensive left fielders in baseball this year, and I’d say he has a good shot at taking this one home. He trails Peralta by a little bit in Outs Above Average, but he leads the league in UZR/150 and BLOWS THE FIELD AWAY in Defensive Runs Saved (13, as compared to Tommy Pham, in second place with 3).
Speaking of which … Yelich? Is a finalist? Are you serious? His metrics are bad. The eye test is very bad. I guess you have to vote for someone as a finalist and the managers and coaches just picked a name they knew?
Nico Hoerner … is not a finalist at shortstop:
You can beef with this one if you want. I think he should’ve been a finalist, all things considered.
Hoerner was second in Defensive Runs Saved, and tied for second in Outs Above Average. He also LOOKED the part this year, at least from my highly-biased perspective. Hoerner was only 12th in UZR/150, and maybe that one dinged him, but I suspect it was more about the reputational stuff. Hoerner did not come into the season known as a top defensive shortstop, so it was a high bar to clear to get in him into that conversation, fairly or not.
Notably, over in the American League, two familiar names show up: