With the wave of statistical analysis and metrics washing over Major League Baseball, defense has become more prominent than ever. Tuesday provided an opportunity to reward the best of the best, as the 2015 Gold Glove winners were announced.
Here’s the full list of recipients:
Any discussion of defense usually starts with Atlanta Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons, but he was knocked off his perch this year by also-stellar defender Brandon Crawford of the San Francisco Giants.
According to FanGraphs, Simmons led all National League shortstops with 25 defensive runs saved, but Crawford tied for second with 20 and ranked first with 84 out-of-zone plays made.
Crawford’s teammates discussed the 28-year-old’s defensive abilities before the award was announced, with midseason acquisition Mike Leake telling Alex Pavlovic of Comcast SportsNet Bay Area what he noticed after playing in front of Crawford.
“I didn’t realize how good of a shortstop he is until I got here,” Leake said. “You just see how consistent he is. He’s got a very soft glove. He makes it look fluid and easy and like there’s not much effort. I don’t know if there’s panic in that head, but he makes it look like there isn’t any.”
It’s a testament to the strong crop of defenders at shortstop in the NL that Simmons’ hold on the Gold Glove was broken—at least for one year—after two seasons. Crawford has been an elite defender for years and now has the hardware to prove it.
Looking at the defensive talent at shortstop in the NL, Miami Marlins infield instructor Perry Hill told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick that there are some similarities to a previous shortstop wave in the majors.
“Remember when [Derek] Jeter, A-Rod and [Nomar] Garciaparra were all together about 15 years ago?” Hill said. “It’s kind of like that now on the flip side—on the defensive side.”
Speaking of the Marlins, Dee Gordon was awarded his first career Gold Glove after leading all qualified second basemen with 13 defensive runs saved and a 6.4 UZR. His team also sent out a congratulatory GIF that summed up how well the 27-year-old fared in his first season in Miami:
This was a banner year for Gordon on both sides of the ball, as noted by Ace of MLB Stats on Twitter:
Gordon had a slow ascent in the big leagues. He arrived in 2011 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and didn’t play more than 87 games until 2014. He was then traded to the Marlins and set career highs in average (.333), on-base percentage (.359) and slugging percentage (.418), and now he has a Gold Glove, too.
Per ESPN’s Mark Simon, defensive runs saved metrics were not nearly as kind to the American League shortstops up for the award:
It is important to note that Cleveland Indians rookie Francisco Lindor, who led AL shortstops in defensive runs saved, UZR and defensive value, was not eligible for the award after falling short of the minimum innings requirement; his promotion to the big leagues didn’t come until June.
Alcides Escobar may not have gotten a lot of love from the defensive runs saved metric, but the Kansas City Royals shortstop did lead all qualified AL shortstops with an .807 revised zone rating. RZR measures “the proportion of balls hit into a fielder’s zone that he successfully converted into an out,” per FanGraphs.
Royals catcher Salvador Perez, who won his third consecutive Gold Glove, is on a pretty good run. He was named World Series MVP after his team’s triumph over the New York Mets in Game 5 on Nov. 1.
Perez didn’t rank very high in all metrics, as Baseball-Reference.com’s defensive runs saved above average had him tied for 28th among catchers, but catching is hard to define defensively because pitch blocking, pitch framing, throwing runners out, picking runners off and more go into it.
Sticking with another World Series participant, Yoenis Cespedes didn’t play a game in the American League after July 30 but received his first career Gold Glove after having 11 defensive runs saved in 865.2 innings with the Detroit Tigers.
And Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier didn’t merely dazzle on highlight reels. The 25-year-old led all players, regardless of position, in defensive runs saved (42), UZR (30.0) and defensive value (32.0).
Combine those metrics with plays like this one against Baltimore Orioles star and fellow Gold Glove winner Manny Machado, and Kiermaier is perhaps the most deserving winner of this award:
The Gold Glove Awards will never be perfect, as they are voted on by managers and coaches who have to focus their attention on getting their teams ready to play every day, but there’s no denying the overall strength of this class of winners.
Defense is more essential than ever in this era of baseball, with no greater evidence of that than this year’s World Series champion. Kansas City had three Gold Glove winners and was built on a foundation of stellar relief pitching and players all over the field who made the spectacular look routine.
Defensive stats courtesy of FanGraphs.com unless otherwise noted.
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