2015 Major League Baseball Gold Glove Finalists Announced

As the World Series rages on, Awards Season rears its always-controversial head. The first hint of the upcoming Awards Season is Rawlings’ announcement of the three Gold Glove finalists at each position for each league. Like usual, there are several names that don’t belong and several noticeable snubs.

In my opinion, the most useful defensive stat is Fangraphs’ DEF (Fielding and Positional Adjustment Combined Above Average). It encompasses several metrics to come up with a mostly accurate defensive value. Here’s a rundown of the finalists with their Fangraphs DEF stat included in parentheses: (I skipped breaking down pitchers because there is no DEF stat for that position, but I included the list of finalists)

American League

Pitchers: Mark Buehrle, Sonny Gray, Dallas Keuchel

Catchers: Jason Castro (10.6), Russell Martin (12.5), Salvador Perez (12.2)

Martin was the best all around catcher despite ugly DRS numbers (-2). He does everything well behind the plate though, and that counts for more than one stat. Perez is a close second and Castro a somewhat distant third. No huge snubs in this group either, but Brian McCann finished with 10.9 DEF, perhaps deserving that last spot over Castro.

First Basemen: Eric Hosmer (-10.6), Mike Napoli (-3.3), Mark Teixeira (-7.4)

The American League featured an absolute dumpster fire of defensive first basemen this season. The BEST defender? Mike Napoli, with -3.3 DEF. So, in other words: he was bad, but his bad was better than anyone else’s. It almost feels like no one should win this award and they should give a second one to another position. There were no snubs here since everyone was in the negatives, but guys like Albert Pujols (-3.5) and Justin Smoak (-3.6) were less awful than the other two finalists.

Second Basemen: Jose Altuve (5.5), Brian Dozier (3.7), Ian Kinsler (8.5)

Ian Kinsler was the top defensive second baseman in the American League by a fairly significant margin. He should run away with the award, but probably won’t. This will be a close race between Kinsler and Altuve. While these three were certainly good defensively, guys like Omar Infante (6.5) and Jason Kipnis (6.2) deserved a finalist spot a bit more.

Third Basemen: Adrian Beltre (14.0), Evan Longoria (9.3), Manny Machado (10.8)

Adrian Beltre is one of the greatest defensive third baseman of all time and he should win another Gold Glove this season. There were some excellent defensive players at the hot corner this year, although it was a bit of a top heavy group, as the top four defenders finished with at least 9.3 DEF and the fifth best almost halved it at 5.2. While all three finalists are deserving of a spot, Josh Donaldson’s 11.4 DEF was good for second best in the league at third, and he’s nowhere to be found. Maybe they can use that first base Gold Glove that no one deserves and give it to him instead.

Shortstops: Xander Bogaerts (8.0), Alcides Escobar (13.9), Didi Gregorious (14.2)

Plenty of shortstops with plenty of defensive talent in the AL. Didi Gregorious gave Yankees fans something they hadn’t seen in a long time: a good defensive shortstop (if you’re offended by this, look up Derek Jeter’s defensive statistics- he was a good hitter). Alcides Escobar is an awful hitter (don’t let the playoffs fool you) but an excellent defender. Two huge snubs in this category, as the AL leader in SS DEF didn’t make the list: Francisco Lindor (15.0) and the fourth best was nowhere to be found either: J.J. Hardy (12.2).

Left Fielders: Yoenis Cespedes (10.5), Brett Gardner (-5.8), Alex Gordon (2.4)

Possibly the most obvious winner despite the Trade Deadline deal that sent Cespedes to the Mets from the Tigers. Cespedes annihilated his competition here, performing far better than his fellow left fielders all season. Alex Gordon was decent as well and at least has a reputation that helped him get into the list of finalists. Gardner’s inclusion is a bit of a head scratcher here, as he was the fourth worst defensive left fielder among outfielders with at least 500 innings spent in left. One significant snub here was Minnesota’s Eddie Rosario, whose 3.6 DEF was second best in the AL.

Center Fielders: Kevin Kiermaier (32.0), Kevin Pillar (16.1), Mike Trout (2.6)

It was the year of the Kevins in center field for the American League. Kiermaier posted an unfathomable 32.0 DEF and Pillar burst onto the scene making diving catches seemingly every day. When Mike Trout is an afterthought, you know the competition is elite. A few snubs here, but it doesn’t matter because no one stands a chance against Kiermaier: Lorenzo Cain (16.3), Leonys Martin (9.3) and Adam Jones (9.1) all had awesome defensive seasons as well. If there were one Gold Glove to be awarded for the entire sport, Kiermaier would win it.

Right Fielders: Kole Calhoun (6.6), J.D. Martinez (1.0), Josh Reddick (-7.8)

Right field has long been the “put a good hitter who can’t field there” outfield position and that holds true this season in the American League. Calhoun and Martinez were the only two right fielders to put up a positive number according to DEF. Calhoun should run away with this one. No real snubs here, although Reddick’s presence is simply based on reputation and not statistics, so guys like Alex Rios (-0.2) and George Springer (-2.0) were slightly less atrocious.

National League

Pitchers: Jake Arrieta, Gerrit Cole, Zack Greinke

Catchers: Yadier Molina (10.9), Buster Posey (7.7), Wilson Ramos (11.2)

A few surprises here, as Wilson Ramos graded out as the best defensive catcher in the NL despite the fact that I can’t imagine anyone would have guessed that. Yadi was Yadi again, putting up the second best defensive numbers at his position, but surprisingly tying at 10.9 DEF with this category’s biggest snub: Derek Norris. Francisco Cervelli (9.4), Nick Hundley (9.4), and rookie J.T. Realmuto (8.8) also deserve some consideration. Posey is a finalist despite being ninth in the league defensively.

First Basemen: Brandon Belt (-0.4), Paul Goldschmidt (-6.7), Adrian Gonzalez (-7.2)

Clearly, the DEF stat is not fond of first basemen. Much like in the American League, all National League first basemen ended up with negative numbers in their DEF stat. Brandon Belt was indeed the best one, or the least bad of them all. Going by another stat, DRS (Defensive Runs Saved Above Average), Goldy is on top with 18, followed by Gonzalez with 10 and Belt with 8. Anthony Rizzo also had 10 DRS and can be considered somewhat of a snub despite his -8.9 DEF.

Second Basemen: Dee Gordon (8.6), D.J. LeMahieu (2.8), Brandon Phillips (4.1)

The second base Gold Glove finalists are the second, seventh, and sixth best defensive second basemen in the NL, respectively (according to DEF). Danny Espinoza was number one with 11.4 DEF, but played the fewest innings at the position, only 646.2. Ranked below Dee Gordon but above Phillips and LeMahieu were the snubs for this position: Addison Russell (8.5), Joe Panik (6.8), and Jace Peterson (4.2). Gordon should run away with this one with Phillips as his only real competitor.

Third Basemen: Nolan Arenado (7.6), Matt Duffy (12.6), Todd Frazier (9.6)

The biggest surprise in writing this entire article was that Nolan Arenado didn’t have Kiermaier-esque numbers defensively. I was almost certain that he would at least be atop the third base list, but that spot belongs to Matt Duffy. Behind him are the two biggest snubs at third base: Martin Prado (10.9) and Jake Lamb (10.0). Arenado will probably win this one, but was actually only the fifth best third baseman in the National League in 2015.

Shortstops: Brandon Crawford (17.1), Adeiny Hechavarria (21.6), Andrelton Simmons (23.9)

This is the only category in which the top three players according to DEF are the three finalists. Simmons paced the position with consistently amazing glove work. Crawford continued a string of great defensive seasons as well. The new kid here is Adeiny Hechavarria. He’d passed the “eye test” as a good defender for years, but the stats finally caught up this year, making him the second best defensive shortstop in baseball. Hech has the best UZR, but the fewest DRS among the finalists.

Left Fielders: Starling Marte (1.8), Justin Upton (-4.5), Christian Yelich (-3.4)

Two of the three finalists posted below average defense and the best defensive left fielder was not even included. Chris Coghlan (!) paced National League left fielders with 5.3 DEF. Yelich actually spent a lot of time in center field as well, but wasn’t great there either. No real snubs here, but Nori Aoki was just about average with a -0.1 DEF and wasn’t named a finalist.

Center Fielders: Billy Hamilton (16.2), Andrew McCutchen (-2.2), A.J. Pollock (8.7)

Billy Hamilton paced all NL center fielders with his 16.2 DEF despite missing a bit of time at the end of the season. Pollock was the third best in the league with his 8.7 DEF. McCutchen got by on name recognition alone this season, as his -2.2 DEF and -8 DRS matched up with a -6.1 UZR/150 for an overall poor defensive season. The second best fielder in center was rookie Odubel Herrera (11.7 DEF), a definite snub. There were six defenders better than McCutchen not including those already mentioned, so they could all be seen as snubs as well.

Right Fielders: Curtis Granderson (-0.8), Bryce Harper (-10.7), Jason Heyward (14.0)

This is Jason Heyward’s party and no one else is invited. Granderson and Harper must have gotten in by accident. If anyone but Heyward wins this Gold Glove, it should cause similar outrage to when Rafael Palmeiro won in 1999. Plenty of snubs here still in terms of finalists, as Granderson and Harper had no business attending Heyward’s party. The second and third best right fielders actually came from the same team, as Ichiro Suzuki (5.8) and Giancarlo Stanton (5.4) split time for the Miami Marlins due to Stanton’s injury. Ender Inciarte (3.0) and Gregory Polanco (0.1) round out the list of right fielders who ended up with positive numbers.

The Gold Glove winners will be announced on Friday, November 13th. Who do you think should win? Who do you think are the biggest snubs? The comments would be a great place to discuss these things!

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