By Tim Ryder
Rawlings handed out their 2019 Gold Glove Awards on Sunday evening during a live announcement on ESPN2. The best fielders in the game have been recognized with this honor celebrating their outstanding glovework each season since 1958.
The voting pool is made up of MLB coaches and managers (who can’t vote for their own players), as well as 25 percent of the vote coming from the Society for American Baseball Research’s (SABR) data.
In the American League infield, Oakland’s Matt Olson (13 defensive runs saved, 4.6 ultimate zone rating per 150 innings) took home the honors at first base for the second consecutive season, Chicago’s Yolmer Sanchez (11 DRS, 5.0 UZR/150) won his first Gold Glove at second, Cleveland’s Francisco Lindor (9 DRS, 7.4 UZR/150) won his second award (2016) at shortstop, and Matt Chapman of the Athletics (18 DRS, 12 UZR/150) won at third for the second straight season.
In the National League infield, the Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo (3 DRS, 2.9 UZR/150) won his third Gold Glove and second straight for his play at first, St. Louis’ Kolten Wong (14 DRS, 4.9 UZR/150) took home the honors at second (his first career win), Arizona’s Nick Ahmed won his second consecutive award for his play at shortstop (18 DRS, 2.3 UZR/150), and Colorado’s Nolan Arenado (8 DRS, 12 UZR/150) to0k home his eighth straight Gold Glove for his sparkling play at third.
Alex Gordon of the Royals (1 DRS, 3.1 UZR/150; seventh Gold Glove, third straight), Tampa Bay’s Kevin Kiermaier (13 DRS, 9.8 UZR/150; third award), and Boston’s Mookie Betts (15 DRS, 13.3 UZR/150; fourth straight) took home the hardware for their terrific outfield play in the AL. In the NL, the Diamondbacks’ David Peralta (10 DRS, 9.5 UZR/150), Milwaukee’s Lorenzo Cain (20 DRS, 8.7 UZR/150), and the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger (22 DRS, 13.7 UZR/150) all took home their first Gold Gloves.
To clarify, each respective league’s outfield winners are listed from left field to right field, but their stats are their cumulative outfield stats, as per FanGraphs.
Philadelphia’s J.T. Realmuto (11 DRS, eight framing runs above average) took home his first Gold Glove for his defensive play behind the plate in the NL, beating out San Diego’s Austin Hedges, whose advanced metrics (22 DRS, 20.7 FRM) dwarfed Realmuto’s. Cleveland’s Roberto Perez (29 DRS, 9.6 FRM) took home the honors in the AL — his first Gold Glove.
On the mound, Houston’s Zack Greinke (4 DRS, 0.5 FRM; yes, it’s also a fielding metric for pitchers) won the NL Gold Glove — his sixth award — for his time with the Diamondbacks and Seattle’s Mike Leake (2 DRS, 1.1 FRM) — who also spent time with Arizona this season — won the honors in the AL for the first time in his 10-year career.
