The San Francisco Giants’ Brandon Crawford won the Gold Glove for National League shortstops, to the surprise of many who believed Simmons would collect his third in a row and be an exclusive owner of the award for a decade or so. “It’s a big priority to me”, Crawford said on a conference call. Buster Posey was a finalist for the National League catcher spot this year, and third baseman Matt Duffy and first baseman Brandon Belt also were finalists.
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Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he often heard opposing coaches and managers use the term “Gold Glove shortstop” to describe Brandon Crawford last season.
Vizquel won Gold Gloves in 2005-06, but the Giants had not had a Gold Glove recipient since. The Giants’ four nominations tied the world champion Royals for the most in the majors.
Besides making it seem so free and easy, Crawford makes these plays on any given night and has proven that he is in fact the greatest shortstop in the game. “Just to be in the finalists I was excited, but then to find out that I won, I was very proud”. “Playing with those guys every day, you could see how good everyone is”. He had the best defensive WAR in the NL again in 2015, edging out Crawford 3.5 to 2.9., and he had a higher fielding percentage, a league-best.988, compared to Crawford’s.979.
From diving backhands to his left, to glove-flips from his stomach to start a double play, Crawford added power at the plate to go along with his always stellar defensive play, which earned him his first All Star Game honor.
Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons’ formidable defense is without peer in the view of many, but for the 2015 season his glove was not officially Gold.
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Managers and coaches account for 75 percent of the Gold Glove selection, with the rest determined by SABR Defensive Index, a metric that expresses how many runs a fielder “saved” for his team during the season. Simmons winning the last two years and even getting a Platinum Glove one of those years, and Adeiny Hechavarria is a very good shortstop also.
