Rawlings Screwed the Cubs Again
Rawlings Baseball announced the 2024 Gold Glove Award winners on Sunday night and while we can all congratulate Ian Happ for his history-making win it’s hard not to ignore that the Cubs got screwed again. As if it wasn’t bad enough already that Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong weren’t even considered finalists at their respective positions, now Rawlings somehow handed the Gold Glove Award at shortstop to Ezequiel Tovar in the National League.
I want to remind everyone that during the 2024 season Dansby Swanson led all shortstops in the league in the following stats: Outs Above Average, Fielding Runs Prevented, DEF, Fielding Percentage. Oh and by the way Swanson also had the fewest errors at the position.
To his credit, Tovar did lead the National League in UZR/150 and defensive runs saved.
It’s still kinda crazy though because how often do you see a guy like Swanson, who had won two gold gloves in a row, have as good of a defensive season as he did, and then he’s ousted by a newcomer.
You can see all the 2024 Gold Glove Award winners here.
(Previous Update)
Welcome back to the annual tradition of bitching about the Rawlings Baseball Gold Glove finalists. Before that though, congrats to shortstop Dansby Swanson and left fielder Ian Happ, who are vying for their third consecutive gold glove award at their respective positions in the National League. However, Rawlings dropped the ball with one awful Cubs snub and you can probably argue there are two major snubs for the Cubs in the 2024 gold glove finalists.
I’m not going to argue that Nico Hoerner should be the no-doubt winner for this year’s gold glove at second in the NL, but for Rawlings to not even have him as one of the three finalists is a joke.
Let’s compare Hoerner to the three finalists in the major defensive metrics.
Defensive Runs Saved (rank)
Turang: 21 (1st)
Marte: 10 (2nd)
Stott: 7 (3rd)
Hoerner: 4 (4th)
Outs Above Average
Hoerner: 10 (1st)
Marte: 8 (2nd)
Turang: 6 (3rd)
Stott: 2 (5th)
Fielding Runs Prevented
Hoerner: 8 (1st)
Marte: 6 (2nd)
Turang: 4 (t-3rd)
Stott: 1 (6th)
DEF
Hoerner: 8.9 (1st)
Marte: 7.1 (2nd)
Turang: 5.7 (3rd)
Stott: 2.7 (5th)
Bullshit. Guy leads the league in three defensive categories and isn’t even one of the three finalists? C’mon!
Meanwhile, Pete Crow-Armstrong, who was called up to play center field for an injured Cody Bellinger back in April, ended his first full season in the majors leading all National League center fielders with 12 defensive runs saved. Oh and by the way PCA also had the highest DEF rating on Fangraphs at 14.1 AND FRV at 16, which weren’t only number one in the NL, but first among all MLB center fielders.
Crow-Armstrong’s 14 Out Above Average also ranked third among NL center fielders. You might think to yourself that maybe PCA didn’t play enough innings to qualify. Well, he actually logged 9 more innings in center field than Blake Perkins, who was one of the three finalists.
Rawlings, why are you the way that you are?
Honorable mention to Michael Busch, who emerged as a great defensive first baseman following a slow start at the position in April. But compared to Hoerner and Crow-Armstrong, he wasn’t close to being a snub.