Gold Glove
Sunday, November 4
The Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners will be revealed at 9:00 p.m. on Sunday on ESPN.
The awards recognizing the best defensive players at each position are voted on by the managers in each league, with the caveat that they can’t vote for a player on their own team. These votes are combined with the SABR Defensive Index, which combines five different defensive metrics to rate players on their arm strength, accuracy, range, sure-handedness and the number of “excellent” or “poor” plays they make in the field.
The Red Sox have five finalists for the Gold Glove award. First baseman Mitch Moreland and second baseman Ian Kinsler represent Boston’s infield. Both have won the award in the past and look to do so again in a Red Sox uniform.
The starting outfield trio all made the list of finalists. Mookie Betts has won in right field in each of the last two seasons and is a virtual lock to make it three consecutive wins. Jackie Bradley Jr. has long been known as one of the best defensive center fielders in the game but has shockingly never won a Gold Glove. That’s a testament to the talented pool of center fielders in the American Legaue but this season to be the year JBJ finally gets the nod. Andrew Benintendi is more of a dark horse candidate in left field but his game-saving catch in Game 4 of the ALCS is proof of why he belongs on the ballot.