Today we take a break from "Stay or Go" to talk about the NYY Gold Glove nominees and break the news of the winners!
Tweets:
Nominee Position-By-Position Breakdown (for Yankees):
Pitchers:
Finalists: Jose Berrios (TOR), Shane Bieber (CLE), and Jameson Taillon (NYY)
The pitching award would seem to all but Shane Biebers to lose as he topped the American League finalists in everything but Assists and Framing, as Jameson Taillon led both. However, the pitching in 200 innings and large lead in putouts would seem to give him a leg up over the others. None of the three finalists have won a Gold Glove before as Bieber is the only one with any hardware (2020 Cy Young Award).
Catchers:
Finalists: Sean Murphy (OAK), Cal Raleigh (SEA), Jose Trevino (NYY)
It's interesting, but the reigning American League gold glove winner at catcher, Sean Murphy, led the finalists in just innings and assists from this past year. Meanwhile, first-time All-Star Jose Trevino led in putouts, errors, DRS, framing, and defense. Cal Raleigh landed perfect in between the two while leading in errors and fielding percentage. Looking at the statistics, it seems as though this is likely going to the Yankee as Trevino's DRS, framing, and defense numbers are so far above the rest.
First Base:
Finalists: Luis Arraez (MIN), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (TOR), Anthony Rizzo (NYY)
Anthony Rizzo is the elder statesmen in this battle as a 4-time prior Gold Glove winner (who also won a platinum glove in 2016). Rizzo's numbers do not point towards a clear and obvious win again this year, but his track record and good numbers could propel him to his 5th win. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. showed he has learned to play first base after being seen as a player destined for DH, though his advanced numbers are the lowest of the group. Luis Arraez learned first base on the fly and posted good numbers, but he also accumulated just 529 innings at the position, or just about half that of either of the other two finalists. Anything could happen here.
Left Field:
Finalists: Andrew Benintendi (KC/NYY), Steven Kwan (CLE), Brandon Marsh (LAA/PHI)
The reigning left field gold glove winner, Andrew Benintendi did go through the entire 2022 season in the AL without making an error. However, not all the advanced metrics liked his performance, shown by a negative defensive value. Brandon Marsh was a solid defender, but spent the later half of the year in Philadelphia. The clear and obvious choice here is rookie Steven Kwan. He led the finalists in putouts, assists, DRS (by a longshot), and Def while being just behind in innings and UZR.
Utility:
Finalists: DJ LeMahieu (NYY), Whit Merrifield (KC/TOR), Luis Rengifo (LAA)
A new position for winning a gold glove, the utility award might be the most sought after this year. Whoever wins for this "position" would set the standard going forward for all utility players. In a small way, it is a big deal. And, DJ LeMahieu will (or should) win. He played the least amount of innings yet still had the most putouts, 2nd most assists, least errors, highest DRS, UZR, and Defensive numbers. I calculated the combined statistics for each of these players, with DJ LeMahieu splitting about equal time at 1B, 2B, and 3B. Whit Merrifield spent time at 2B, CF, RF, 1B, LF, and Pitcher, though spent the large majority of the year at 2B with 634.1 innings. Luis Rengifo played nearly 800 innings at 2B while also playing some 3B, SS, LF, and RF. While each of them were utility players, nobody was quite as utility as DJ LeMahieu. It's his award to lose.
Position-By-Position Winners:
Being announced starting at 5:00 PM (EST) on ESPN's Baseball Tonight broadcast, here are the winners of each of the 20 Gold Glove Awards:
Pitchers:
American League: Shane Bieber (Cleveland Guardians) - 1st in Career
National League: Max Fried (Atlanta Braves) - 3rd in Career
Catchers:
American League: Jose Trevino (New York Yankees) - 1st in Career
National League: J.T. Realmuto (Philadelphia Phillies) - 2nd in Career
First Basemen:
American League: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays) - 1st in Career
National League: Christian Walker (Arizona Diamondbacks) - 1st in Career
Second Basemen:
American League: Andres Gimenez (Cleveland Guardians) - 1st in Career
National League: Brendan Rodgers (Colorado Rockies) - 1st in Career
Third Basemen:
American League: Ramon Urias (Baltimore Orioles) - 1st in Career
National League: Nolan Arenado (St. Louis Cardinals) - 10th in Career
Shortstops:
American League: Jeremy Pena (Houston Astros) - 1st in Career
National League: Dansby Swanson (Atlanta Braves) - 1st in Career
Left Fielders:
American League: Steven Kwan (Cleveland Guardians) - 1st in Career
National League: Ian Happ (Chicago Cubs) - 1st in Career
Center Fielders:
American League: Myles Straw (Cleveland Guardians) - 1st in Career
National League: Trent Grisham (San Diego Padres) - 2nd in Career
Right Fielders:
American League: Kyle Tucker (Houston Astros) - 1st in Career
National League: Mookie Betts (Los Angeles Dodgers) - 6th in Career
Utility:
American League: DJ LeMahieu (New York Yankees) - 4th in Career
National League: Brendan Donovan (St. Louis Cardinals) - 1st in Career
---
Ethan's Thoughts:
The broadcast is moving incredibly quickly. Trying to hand out 20 awards in an hour long show (with I'm sure to be many commercial breaks as this is on ESPN) does take away any excitement with the award.
The American League infield & pitcher awards were all first time winners. Outside of the first year of the Gold Glove, I wonder if this has happened before.
Jeremy Pena winning the Gold Glove shows how well run the Astros organization is. They got rid of another shortstop finalist for their new guy to take it from their old guy. Dang.
During Jeremy Pena's interview they asked if he dreamed about winning the Gold Glove as Pena stated "It's a dream come true". Of course he said yes. What kid growing up hasn't dreamed of winning ANY award at the big league level?
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. winning the award over Anthony Rizzo is an absolute joke. He had 10 errors! They stated how much he improved (which was a lot) but the award is for the best defender, not the most improved. Anthony Rizzo got robbed.
WOOOOOO! Jose Trevino won the Gold Glove! Yes! He was the clear and obvious choice. After seeing Rizzo get robbed it is nice to see that they didn't mess that one up. Congrats Jose!
J.T. Realmuto has broken the "1st in their career" streak. Wow. Still amazing how many new guys are winning this year. Maybe defensive metrics are on the rise.
Rodgers and Swanson continued a new "1st in their career" streak, but Nolan Arenado just shut that idea down. Arenado has now won 10 straight Gold Glove awards. One for every season he has been in the MLB. That's incredible.
Kyle Tucker announced for American League Gold Glove. So far the entire AL is 1st time winners. Incredible.
Myles Straw won a Gold Glove. Gross.
Steven Kwan is the 9th straight American Leaguer to take home their first Gold Glove Award. WOW!
If DJ LeMahieu wins the Utility award (as he should), does he also count as a first time winner? It is a new category, so maybe?
Mookie Betts just won his 6th Gold Glove. Rumors are that the Dodgers may be willing to move him back to second base to make room for Aaron Judge. I don't think Betts winning the Gold Glove means anything (as Judge is also a plus defender), but it is interesting.
They started with the American League awards all night and now they're doing the NL utility man first? My goodness...way to keep me in suspense.
YES! GOOD! YES!
DJ LEMAHIEU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ONLY AL PLAYER TO NOT BE A FIRST TIME WINNER!
Most ever "1st time winners" in Gold Glove history. Wow.
I was very worried they were going to give it to someone else. Thank goodness. Rizzo still got robbed though.
