Rays' Kevin Kiermaier 'Very Surprised' and 'Disappointed' by Gold Glove Snub

Tampa Bay Rays center fielder Kiermaier has won three Gold Gloves for his work in center field in 2015, 2016 and 2019. 

However, he wasn't named to the list of finalists in 2020, with the Minnesota Twins' Byron Buxton, the Oakland Athletics' Ramon Laureano and Luis Robert of the Chicago White Sox taking those honors.

Kiermaier expressed his surprise and disappointment that he was not included.

"I was very surprised," Kiermaier said, per ESPN's Jesse Rogers. "And once that emotion left me, I was disappointed. I was upset. I feel like what I did out there, defensively, was underappreciated this year."

Kiermaier finished with five defensive runs saved, per Baseball Savant, which put him in a three-way tie for fourth in that statistic league-wide among all outfielders. He also finished tied for eighth in success rate added and first at his position with six assists.

Kiermaier provided more insight: "I wasn't flawless by any means, but I thought I was darn good out there, and not to be considered top three...I don't know. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't upset about it."

The finalist selection this year played out differently than usual, per Rogers: "Finalists for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award at each position were picked purely by numbers this season and did not include input from managers or coaches like it usually does. In the past, a computer component was part of the process—but not the entire one."

Kiermaier responded to the use of computers this year: "If it's solely based on the computer and the numbers, I don't know what numbers that computer was looking at, but I believe they got it wrong. That's my opinion, but I think there are a lot of other people out there that would agree with me."

The 30-year-old is the anchor of a stellar Rays defense that has been instrumental in the team's run to the World Series. That effort led to Tampa Bay allowing the fourth-fewest runs in MLB.

Kiermaier and the Rays will play Game 3 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday at 8:08 p.m. ET. The best-of-seven series is tied at one game apiece.