Examining Tomás Nido’s Case To Win The Gold Glove Award

The catcher position has long been a topic of discussion in Mets circles due to constant underperformance and a perceived lack of high-end talent, but that narrative may be about to change. Top prospect Francisco Álvarez is a beacon of hope for the future and has the potential to be a stalwart, but we shouldn’t be forgetting about the value that Tomás Nido brings to the table either, particularly on defense. Because of his work with the glove, he was nominated for the NL’s Rawlings Gold Glove Award at catcher alongside J.T. Realmuto and Travis d’Arnaud. Each player has a compelling body of work that could help bring home the hardware, and we’re going to analyze their profiles to see how Nido stacks up against the competition. 

It’s tough to pin down what exactly voters base their decisions on, but let’s take a look at last year’s Gold Glove race in the NL to provide a bit more insight. The nominees were Jacob Stallings, Yadier Molina and Realmuto, with Stallings ultimately winning the award. He finished with the highest Defensive Runs Saved total of the three at 21 while also recording the best defensive runs above average total at 16.4 according to Fangraphs. Stallings also came out on top in Fangraphs Catcher Framing metric at 8.8 as well as in Baseball Prospectus’s Blocking Runs (BlkR) metric at 1.4, which led the league. 

On the flip side, Stallings recorded the worst fielding percentage, caught stealing percentage and catcher’s earned run average in addition to the most errors among the three finalists. This doesn’t signal that those stats have no validity or aren’t relevant, as what the voting results are based on appears to be incredibly fluid and can change on a year-to-year basis. In many ways though, it provides an example of what is valued in today’s game as the world of advanced defensive stats continues to be ironed out and contextualized.

Moving on to this year’s finalists, let’s start with Nido. Baseball Prospectus offers a resounding approval of his season as he ranked first among the field in their metrics for Fielding Runs Above Average (16.8), Framing Runs (15.3) and Catcher Defensive Adjustment (16.9). He also finished in the highest percentile for framing by Baseball Savant, a product of having the fifth-highest strike rate in the league among qualified players. The knock against his résumé is the fact that he had the lowest caught stealing rate at 21% and that he boasted the lowest workload of the three candidates.

As for Realmuto, he lagged behind both Nido and d’Arnaud in a number of categories. He finished last in Framing Runs by both Baseball Prospectus (10.2) and Baseball Savant (0) while suffering the same fate in Fangraphs’ framing metric as well (1.1). His .993 fielding percentage and 8 errors also represented the worst marks among the three. However, his 18.3 defensive runs above average, 11 Defensive Runs Saved, 0.8 Blocking Runs and 44% caught stealing rate paced the other candidates, leaving room for him to be considered as a potential winner of the award.

d’Arnaud presents a fascinating dilemma in that he was tops among the finalists in the more surface-level stats while mostly failing to stand out analytically. He had the least amount of errors with two and ended the season with the highest fielding percentage at .998. In addition, his 3.35 catcher’s earned run average ranked ahead of the other two finalists. Only his framing rated out favorably in terms of his advanced numbers, as his 10 Framing Runs and 8.9 Catcher Framing totals were better than both Nido and Realmuto’s. On the other hand, his pop time, Blocking Runs (0.2), Defensive Runs Saved (6) and Catcher Defensive Adjustment (11.0) numbers were the worst among the field.

This year’s Gold Glove race at catcher in the NL is tightly contested. Realmuto would be the favorite if Stallings’ 2021 season were a true blueprint, as he finished first in three of the same categories that Stallings did (Defensive Runs Saved, Blocking Runs and defensive runs above average), but it isn’t that simple. While that is one of the most recent instances of the award being given out, the voters this year could just as easily respect d’Arnaud’s consistent play and the fact that he stands out in your typical metrics at the position or could reward Nido’s ability to help his pitchers out by stealing strikes at such a high rate.

Nido offers the most balanced profile of the three and thus may be an appealing option, but the name value also can’t be ignored when it comes to the Gold Glove award. Realmuto is a former winner and All-Star level player much like d’Arnaud, and both players have more notable numbers than Nido from a relatability standpoint with the voters. For example, Realmuto’s caught stealing percentage and d’Arnaud’s lack of errors likely mean more than Nido’s framing prowess whether that’s the right perspective or not.

This isn’t to say that Nido is out of the running or can’t win, because that would be both speculation and wildly irresponsible. He had a tremendous season and was deserving of the nomination, but when considering the history behind the award, it’s safe to say that he’s an underdog.

Winners will be announced live on MLB Network on Tuesday, starting at 5 p.m. All winners will be revealed before Game 4 of the World Series begins.