The Boston Red Sox have one of the best outfields in the MLB. Despite that, Andrew Benintendi has yet to have a Gold Glove placed next to his name.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Andrew Benintendi is one of the best outfielders in the MLB as I write this. He’s been patrolling the left-field grounds for the Red Sox since his debut in 2016 and doesn’t seem to be losing that job anytime soon. With that said, Benny has yet to join his fellow outfielders in winning a Rawlings Gold Glove Award.
The winners were announced last night on ESPN 2 with all three Red Sox outfielders nominated for the award. Mookie Betts would walk away with his fourth consecutive Gold Glove, while centerfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. would lose out to Kevin Kiermaier. For the second year in a row, Benintendi would just miss out on the award, once again losing to the Royals’ Alex Gordon.
As much as I wanted Benny to walk away with the accolade it’s hard to deny what Gordon is doing in Kansas City. When you look at the numbers for both, Gordon edges out Benintendi in every major fielding category.
Gordon’s stat line (1260/268/7/1/2/.996) was above Benny’s (1193.2/182/9/2/3/.990) in all but two categories, per Fangraphs. Gordon did come in second as far as assists (7-9) and DPS (2-3), but that wasn’t even close to enough to award Benintendi the trophy.
Obviously in the heat of the moment I was disappointed that Benintendi once again missed out on the defensive award but when you look at the facts it’s clear that he shouldn’t have won. The Red Sox are a better team when Benny is playing at the top of his game, this season wasn’t quite that for the lefty.
This is going to be a dire offseason for the Red Sox as new boss Chaim Bloom will look to improve the squad while saving money. We’ve all heard the rumors of possible trades with guys like JBJ and Betts, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Benny’s name didn’t enter the fray. Though he had a down season his upside is still massive for any team looking to beef up their outfield.
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When I look back at the 2019 season for the Red Sox I think the train went off the tracks when Alex Cora shuffled the lineup and moved Benintendi to the lead-off spot. It’s a completely different animal than batting second and it felt like Andrew just couldn’t find his groove. Both he and Betts suffered due to the swap until they moved back to their natural roles, but it was too late in the season for either to truly rebound.
His biggest setback at the plate came in the form of his BB/K ratio. In 2018, Benny posted a 71/106 ratio compared to 2019’s, 59/140. If you watched him through this past season it was clear that his strike zone had some pretty wide boundaries. His patience was absent and his aggressiveness led to more negatives than positives.
Benintendi will be looking to bounce back in 2020 especially with the uncertainty swirling around the future of the Red Sox outfield. Even if JBJ and Mookie aren’t dealt this winter, they’ll both become free agents next winter. Leaving Benny as the sole survivor of one of the best outfield trios in the league today. In the blink of an eye, he can see himself become the veteran leader carrying the Boston defense.
Even though he wasn’t able to win his first Rawlings Gold Glove for 2019, Andrew Benintendi was still one of the best left fielders in the game. Going forward he will continue to grow into his role with the team especially if his battery mates find new homes. If he can once again find his confidence at the plate I can see him becoming a premier player in the Majors for the foreseeable future.