MLB Gold Glove Awards 2014: Full List of Winners and Analysis

Major League Baseball's award season has begun. On Tuesday, the 2014 Gold Glove winners were announced for the American and National Leagues.    

Rawlings Sports announced the finalists on Oct. 23, with three candidates each at nine positions. From that pool of 54 players, here is how the voting turned out:

Position	American League	National League
Pitcher	Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros	Zack Greinke, Los Angles Dodgers
Catcher	Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals	Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
First Base	Eric Hosmer, Kansas City Royals	Adrian Gonzalez, Los Angeles Dodgers
Second Base	Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox	DJ LeMahieu, Colorado Rockies
Shortstop	J.J. Hardy, Baltimore Orioles	Andrelton Simmons, Atlanta Braves
Third Base	Kyle Seager, Seattle Mariners	Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies
Left Field	Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals	Christian Yelich, Miami Marlins
Center Field	Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles	Juan Lagares, New York Mets
Right Field	Nick Markakis, Baltimore Orioles	Jason Heyward, Atlanta Braves

Defense has taken on a more pertinent role in the way baseball is watched and evaluated. Look at what the Kansas City Royals were able to do this season and in the playoffs because of their ability to cover ground and catch the ball. 

The Royals, who were one game away from winning the World Series, were rewarded for their regular-season efforts with three Gold Gloves. Left fielder Alex Gordon (fourth win), first baseman Eric Hosmer (second) and catcher Salvador Perez (second) all took home the award.

Gordon, in particular, was one of the best defensive players in baseball this year and had far better metrics than his fellow left-field Gold Glove contenders Michael Brantley and Yoenis Cespedes, per Ace of MLB Stats:

Not to be outdone, the Baltimore Orioles—Kansas City's opponent in the American League Championship Series—also nabbed a third of the awards in the AL, thanks to center fielder Adam Jones (fourth), shortstop J.J. Hardy (third) and right fielder Nick Markakis (second).

The team's Twitter feed congratulated the trio of repeat winners:

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was Kyle Seager. The Seattle Mariners' third baseman beat out Oakland's Josh Donaldson, who led the position in defensive runs saved, and Texas' Adrian Beltre, a constant force at the hot corner.

"It is an honor to just be up for the award with all the great third basemen, let alone win the Gold Glove,” Seager said, via MLB.com's Greg Johns. “I really owe a lot to my coaches, especially Chris Woodward. He helped me tremendously.”

While the AL featured mostly familiar names (Seager and Houston's Dallas Keuchel were the only ones to win their first award), the National League was compiled of much more youth.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke, Colorado Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu, Miami Marlins left fielder Christian Yelich and New York Mets center fielder Juan Lagares were all first-time winners, while Atlanta Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons, Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado and Braves right fielder Jason Heyward won for the second time. The Braves congratulated their winners via Twitter:

Five of those players are 25 or younger, highlighting the blindingly bright future of baseball.

One person not in the 25-and-under group, LeMahieu, 26, is quite possibly the least talked about of all the winners. But as ESPN Stats & Info's Mark Simon argued, the Colorado Rockies second baseman is plenty deserving:

Sports Illustrated's Joe Sheehan didn't fully agree, but he praised the new system, which now takes into account advanced metrics:

"

Don't know if I like D.J. Lemahieu as GG 2B, but I do like a system that lets an anonymous non-hitter on a bad team in a small market win.

— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) November 5, 2014"

But the NL wasn't all youth. The Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez won his fourth award, and Yadier Molina won for the seventh time in a row.

ESPN Stats & Info put it into historical perspective.

Baseball is coming out of the days of "chicks dig the long ball." With home runs and offense continuing to decline, teams are learning that the best way to find success is through pitching and catching the ball. 

Clearly, you can win a lot of games building teams around the Gold Glove winners.   

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