Players are voted for by the managers and coaches in each league.
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In a position-by-position unveiling that punctuated a busy morning for Major League Baseball news, Rawlings announced the finalists for the 2015 Gold Glove Awards.
Joining Gordon, Perez and Hosmer as Gold Glove nominees is Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar. In recent years, Juan Lagares won a Gold Glove for his work in center field in 2014, while David Wright and Eric Young Jr. received nominations in 2013. The other 25 percent goes to the sabermetrics community. Among the 54 finalists, 27 of whom come from the National League, four are members of the San Francisco Giants. Granderson played 149 games in right field for the Mets in 2015, while logging 16 innings in center field.
Ramos, who caught each of Max Scherzer’s no-hitters, seems the more likely of the two Nationals to win the award, though he too faces a former Gold Glove victor, Yadier Molina, a seven-time recipient. The winners are announced on November 10 during a special on ESPN. Cespdes also had the highest range factor among all qualified left fielders. 993 fielding percentage, topping all AL shortstops.
Harper was down ballot with six Runs Saved in right field. The fundamental defensive numbers are impressive, which should help with his middle-of-the-pack sabermetric numbers.
“As the Nationals noted in a press release on the nominations, “[Harper] ranked fourth among National League right fielders in the SABR Defensive Index (4.9) and, according to FanGraphs.com, Harper ranked second in Outfield Runs Saved (2) and fourth in Total Defensive Runs Saved (7).
A couple names that were left off the ballot were a bit surprising.
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Upton was the only Padres player named a finalist. Also, rookie catcher James McCann did earn Gold Glove attention.
