Major League Baseball’s award season has begun. On Tuesday, the 2014 Gold Glove winners were announced for the American League and National League.
Rawlings Sports announced the finalists on Oct. 23 with three candidates each at nine positions. From that pool of 27 players, here is how the voting turned out:
Defense has taken on a more pertinent role in the way baseball is watched and evaluated. Look at what the Kansas City Royals were able to do this season and in the playoffs because of their ability to cover ground and catch the ball.
The Royals, who were one game away from winning the World Series, were rewarded for their efforts with three Gold Gloves. Left-fielder Alex Gordon (fourth win), first baseman Eric Hosmer (second) and catcher Salvador Perez (second) all took home the award.
Gordon, in particular, was one of the best defensive players in baseball this year and had far better metrics than his fellow left-field Gold Glove contenders Michael Brantley and Yoenis Cespedes, per Ace of MLB Stats:
Not to be outdone, the Baltimore Orioles—Kansas City’s opponent in the ALCS—also nabbed a third of the awards in the AL, thanks to center-fielder Adam Jones (fourth), shortstop J.J. Hardy (second) and right-fielder Nick Markakis (second). The team’s Twitter feed congratulated the trio of repeat winners:
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night was Kyle Seager. The Seattle Mariners’ third baseman beat out Josh Donaldson, who led the position in defensive runs saved, and Adrian Beltre, a constant force at the hot-corner.
“It is an honor to just be up for the award with all the great third basemen, let alone win the Gold Glove,” Seager said, via MLB.com’s Greg Johns. “I really owe a lot to my coaches, especially Chris Woodward. He helped me tremendously.”
While the AL featured mostly familiar names (Seager and Houston’s Dallas Keuchel were the only ones to win their first award), the National League was compiled of much more youth.
Pitcher Zach Greinke, second baseman D.J. LeMahieu, left-fielder Christian Yelich and center-fielder Juan Lagares were all-first time winners, while shortstop Andrelton Simmons, third baseman Nolan Arenado and right-fielder Jason Heyward won for the second time.
Five of those players are 25 or younger, highlighting the blindingly bright future of baseball.
One person not in the 25-and-under group, LeMahieu, 26, is quite possibly the least talked about of all the winners. But as ESPN Stats & Info’s Mark Simon argued, the Colorado Rockies second baseman is plenty deserving:
Sports Illustrated‘s Joe Sheehan didn’t fully agree, but he praised the new system, which now takes into account advanced metrics:
But the NL wasn’t all youth. Adrian Gonzalez won his fourth award, and Yadier Molina won for the seventh time in a row.
ESPN Stats & Info put it into historical perspective.
Baseball is coming out of the days of “chicks dig the long ball.” With home runs and offense continuing to decline, teams are learning that the best way to find success is through pitching and catching the ball.
Clearly, you can win a lot of games building teams around the Gold Glove winners.
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