Every year, Rawlings, the company responsible for manufacturing most of MLB’s equipment, declares the best of baseball’s defensive players through its Gold Glove Award. Each of baseball’s nine positions received six nominees for consideration (three from each league) with the winners announced on November 3rd. The Royals, a team known for having pretty good defense, have four such nominees — and some that seem likely to win. Here’s a look at the four fabled.
Cole Ragans (Pitcher)
Sure. Why not. I’m gonna be blunt — and I promise there will be actual content in this article — but I have no idea how Ragans got here. I’m not even sure what we’re looking at in terms of pitching defense. How well they hold runners? How many plays can they make? I tried looking at whatever stats and metrics and numbers might work but nothing stands out for Ragans. He doesn’t even have a particularly good fielding stance, but… I like Cole Ragans so I hope he wins? Congrats?
Seth Lugo (Pitcher)
Not one, but TWO nominees from the Royals in this position. I did write about how this rotation was built for success but I don’t remember accounting for their own defense. That being said, Lugo might have a case, from what little number-gathering I can do. He allowed just five stolen bases this season, placing him sixth overall among qualified pitchers. Interestingly, Wacha and Singer allowed even fewer, which is likely a product of good catching, but Lugo did a little more fieldwork on his own. Seth orchestrated three double plays (the most in MLB was five, so yes, three is a lot) and he accumulated 29 assists, the most in the American League. Perhaps, based on that, Lugo might have a real shot at winning, but who knows to be honest.
If you ask me, Daniel Lynch IV should have won it for this play alone.
Freddy Fermin (Catcher)
Should we be surprised by this? Fermin is, for all intents and purposes, the backup catcher to Salvador Perez, but anyone who’s watched him in action can easily recognize his excellence. Fermin’s framing is a little below average but his blocking and throwing are critically acclaimed. Statcast ranks him as the 6th best catcher in terms of blocks above average — or, how frequently and effectively he’s able to block pitches compared to other catchers. In fact, he’s the best of the three candidates in this area. He’s also proven to be an elite thief stopper, throwing out a ridiculous 61% of would-be base-stealers against him. …It’s also thanks to a very small sample size (14 caught stealings versus just 23 attempts) but his pop time and arm metrics are elite, telling that he really has the skills to back up the numbers.
Sadly, it will likely be seen as a great injustice if Cal Raleigh doesn’t win the award. I don’t say this to take away from either Fermin or Rogers, but they didn’t accumulate nearly as much playing time. Fermin and Rogers combine for about 1,300 innings logged at catcher while Raleigh claimed over 1,100 by himself. His numbers are plenty respectable enough and he already has a good reputation in the league… that’s how it goes sometimes. Still, an amazing accomplishment for Freddy to even be nominated — and well-deserved.
Bobby Witt Jr. (Shortstop)
Surely, this won’t be the only award Bobby will be in the running for in the next month. Bobby’s defense was often as exciting as his offense and the numbers can back it up. Statcast combines its many defensive metrics into Fielding Run Value; Bobby’s value of 12 puts him 15th of all position players and the highest-ranked American League shortstop. Fortunately, he doesn’t have to compete with Francisco Lindor if baseball ever remembers his existence and Dansby Swanson.
And, I mean, some of the things he did were just ridiculous.
I’d love to say this is Witt’s award to lose, but we have to remember how last year went. Not only did Anthony Volpe win the award despite inferior numbers, but Bobby wasn’t even nominated for it. Volpe is also a very good defensive shortstop and he deserves to be here again. As usual, this could be anyone’s guess, but if we’re all reading the same numbers, it’s really hard to argue that Bobby wasn’t the best shortstop in the AL this year.
Now hopefully next year Kyle Isbel will get the recognition he deserves.
The full list of nominees can be seen below or on MLB’s website. The winners will be announced on November 3rd.