Major League Baseball: Re-Awarding the Gold Gloves
It's always nice to see awards given out by a vote of the people who actually play the game. For Major League Baseball, one of those is the Gold Glove. Winning a Gold Glove is a pretty high honor, as it awards a player for one of the most important, yet underrated aspects of baseball.
That being said, it is tough to go against the numbers. There are guys that defy logic and are so consistent that they earn their Gold Gloves every season. Of course, you have your first-timers and players would unexpectedly win the award. Sometimes, it even seems like the coaches and players voted for a certain winner because they didn't know who else to choose.
Here are this year's winners, which were announced earlier this week, and who really should have won.
Catcher
1 of 9American League:
Who won it - Matt Wieters, Baltimore Orioles.
Who should have won it - Wieters.
This young stud had a .995 fielding percentage and led the AL in zone rating. Perhaps most impressive of all is that he led the league in caught-stealing percentage by a mile, at 37 percent, and only allowed one passed ball all year.
National League:
Who won it - Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
Who should have won it - Molina.
I almost went off the grid here and chose Miguel Montero of the Arizona Diamondbacks (led the league with a caught-stealing percentage of 40 percent). But it's hard to choose against Molina and his .995 fielding percentage and mastery of the world champion pitching staff.
First Base
2 of 9American League:
Who won it - Adrian Gonzalez, Boston Red Sox.
Who should have won it - Casey Kotchman, Tampa Bay Rays.
Although the voters did get it right by choosing Gonzalez over the Yankees' Mark Teixeira, they completely overlooked the best defensive first baseman in the league. Kotchman led the American League with two errors, a .998 fielding percentage and a 2.893 zone rating. Gonzalez and Tex were 2-3 in those categories, respectively, but Kotchman showed why he will be the steal of the offseason for whoever signs the free agent.
National League:
Who won it - Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds.
Who should have won it - James Loney, Los Angeles Dodgers.
By the numbers, Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies was the best first baseman in the league. He only played at first in 119 games, though. So that being said, you really can't go wrong with Votto, Loney or Florida's Gaby Sanchez. They all had .996 fielding percentages (Loney and Sanchez had five errors each, Votto had six), but Loney led the trio in zone rating by a hair.
Second Base
3 of 9American League:
Who won it - Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox.
Who should have won it - Pedroia.
Pedroia was a shoo-in, leading the AL in almost every category for second baseman who played in a significant amount of games. His fielding percentage was two points behind Howie Kendrick of the Angels, but Kendrick spent time on the disabled list, which limited his games.
National League:
Who won it - Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds.
Who should have won it - Phillips.
This guy should win on Web Gem count alone. He's consistently the most dazzling defensive second baseman in the National League. His only competition was the Pirates' Neil Walker, who scored the same .992 fielding percentage as Phillips. But Walker's zone rating was almost a full .200 behind Phillips'.
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Third Base
4 of 9American League:
Who won it - Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers.
Who should have won it - Beltre.
This is one of those cases when technically, Beltre didn't have the best numbers. They were stellar, but not the best. That being said, he's a hot commodity at third base with his glove and makes a highlight-reel play seemingly every game. No-doubter here.
National League:
Who won it - Placido Polanco, Philadelphia Phillies.
Who should have won it - Aramis Ramirez, Chicago Cubs.
Polanco led the National League in fielding percentage at the hot corner, but he also had a pretty awful zone rating. Ramirez played in about 35 more games than Polanco and only had six more errors, while posting the best zone rating.
Shortstop
5 of 9American League:
Who won it - Erick Aybar, Los Angeles Angels.
Who should have won it - Jhonny Peralta, Detroit Tigers.
And Peralta continues to be ignored, even by his peers. I'm just not sure how Aybar and his 13 errors merited a Gold Glove when Peralta (seven errors) and Baltimore's J.J. Hardy (six) had much better seasons in every defensive category.
National League:
Who won it - Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies.
Who should have won it - Tulowitzki.
It's really a toss-up between Tulo and Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies. But we'll give it to Troy because he played in two more games, made one less error and by doing so, I save three words-worth of typing on my fragile old man wrists.
Left Field
6 of 9American League:
Who won it - Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals.
Who should have won it - Gordon.
A no-brainer. It was an incredible debut season for this former infielder. He led American League left fielders in fielding percentage and threw out an astonishing 20 baserunners. The next closest total in assists was seven. Wow.
National League:
Who won it - Gerardo Parra, Arizona Diamondbacks.
Who should have won it - Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers.
Parra must have won on the strength of his 12 assists, but if you look at the numbers, the fielding percentage and zone rating edge clearly go to Braun. Plus, Braun just had too good of a year to deny him something trivial like a glove made of gold.
Center Field
7 of 9American League:
Who won it - Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox.
Who should have won it - Melky Cabrera, Kansas City Royals.
Don't hate me. But seriously, Ellsbury's 1.000 fielding percentage is very impressive. And he's a regular on Web Gems. But, Cabrera only made three errors in center, while throwing out 13 runners, to Ellsbury's 6, and he led the position in zone rating.
National League:
Who won it - Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers.
Who should have won it - Kemp.
He was only tied for sixth with a .987 fielding percentage, but he absolutely dominated in zone rating and threw out 11 guys, tops in the National League. You could make a case for Shane Victorino's error-less 130 games in center, but he also managed to amass ZERO assists somehow. Combine that shocking statistic with my Dodger bias and my reasoning for Braun on the last slide, and you get this result.
Right Field
8 of 9American League:
Who won it - Nick Markakis, Baltimore Orioles.
Who should have won it - Markakis.
What a season out there for the big guy. He had no errors in 157 games, was second in zone rating and third in assists with 14. As awkward and goofy as he might look chasing down a ball in right, Markakis definitely deserved the hardware this year.
National League:
Who won it - Andre Ethier, Los Angeles Dodgers.
Who should have won it - Carlos Beltran, New York Mets/San Francisco Giants.
Ethier had a fine season in the outfield, but as much as I hate to admit it, that filthy SF Giant had a better one. He played in more games than Ethier and only made one error. He threw out ten baserunners to Ethier's eight, and had a zone rating a full point higher than Andre.
Pitcher
9 of 9American League:
Who won it - Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox.
Who should have won it - Buehrle.
Honestly, I didn't even look at the stats for this one. He made the play of the year in 2010, and I'm allowing him to carry that honor over to 2011. The tumbling, between the legs glove flip he made on Opening Day 2010 was so amazing, I am willing to pencil Buehrle in for this award for the rest of his career.
National League:
Who won it - Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers.
Who should have won it - Kershaw.
This one could have gone to any number of starting pitchers who had zero errors this year. Kershaw's range factor was pretty good, plus he is the favorite for the NL Cy Young award in 2011, so why not just give him all the trophies they've got?
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