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Three Miami Marlins Named Gold Glove Finalists

Casey McGehee, Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich

After a season that was surprisingly better than expected although in the end ultimately disappointing, the Miami Marlins can expect to have their players as finalists for some league-wide awards. Third baseman Casey McGehee was named the Sporting News’ National League Comeback Player of the Year. Outfielder Giancarlo Stanton should finish second in Most Valuable Player voting, behind pitcher Clayton Kershaw. On Thursday, Gold Glove finalists were announced, including three Miami Marlins.

Christian Yelich, left fielder, was named a finalist along side Justin Upton of the Atlanta Braves and Starling Marte of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Right fielder Giancarlo Stanton was also nominated with Atlanta’s Jason Heyward and Arizona’s (and Milwaukee’s) Gerardo Parra. Finally, shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria was named a finalist next to Brave Andrelton Simmons and Red Zack Cozart.

The Gold Glove has long been considered a joke among the more statistically minded baseball fans, and this year seems like no exception. Of the three Marlins nominees, Yelich is the only one who consistently graded out as a positive defender across most metrics. Yelich’s 0.3 dWAR, 4.0 DEF, and 10 Defensive Runs Saved were all solid, but thoroughly unspectacular numbers. Stanton’s numbers were not as pretty. He put up -0.1 dWAR and -5.1 DEF, but his 7 Defensive Runs Saved show that he may have been in fact decent. Finally, Hechavarria equaled Yelich’s dWAR at 0.3, but had a -2.2 DEF to go with it. His Defensive Runs Saved number was -3, meaning that having him at shortstop cost the Marlins 3 more runs than if they’d had a league-average shortstop there instead.

None of the Fish Fielders are seen as favorites for the awards, and Yelich is the only one who should have any real chance based on the numbers. For all the things Giancarlo Stanton excels in, fielding is not one of them. On the other hand, Adeiny Hechavarria is not good with the bat, so you’d hope for success with the glove. Unfortunately, the numbers say otherwise.

Author: David Marcillo

David has been a Marlins fan since 1993. ’97 and ’03 were nice. Best of times, worst of times, mediocre times in between.

You can follow David on Twitter: @DavidMarcillo77 or you can email: [email protected]

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