To the average fan, Gold Gloves symbolize great defense. To the studious baseball fan, they’ve become a yearly boondoggle.
Managers and coaches carry the burden of making the decision in this election — which was created a little more than 50 years ago by a Rawlings sales manager who noticed the company’s enormous market share among MLB players.
So the award was created to spotlight those who flash the leather at a level higher than their peers.
It just isn’t always distributed as such.
This year’s most egregious example was in the American League voting, in which Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter secured his fifth Gold Glove. Many baseball scribes would argue that’s four too many.
His selection provoked outrage by the baseball academics who — while acknowledging his AL-best .989 fielding percentage and just six errors — cited his lack of range as to why he isn’t among the fielding elite.
To put it in basic terms, he was not among the AL’s top five in putouts or assists and was among the worst in the lesser-known defensive range categories.
The National League was less controversial. While you can always pose a good argument for any position, the most serious question points to the hot corner.
The Reds’ Scott Rolen (his eighth Gold Glove) took home the hardware with the second-highest fielding percentage (.977) in the NL among regulars at that position.
Rolen is a very good fielder, but fielding percentage is not as good a statistic as you would think. According to the defensive runs saved above average statistic — meaning runs taken away by a defender — the two best are the Padres’ Chase Headley (21) and Nats’ Ryan Zimmerman (20). In addition, Headley (1,407.2) and Zimmerman (1,190.1) played more innings than Rolen (1,074).
What was Rolen’s number in that category? Two — the same as that of the Giants’ Pablo Sandoval (.961 fielding percentage), who was benched during parts of the postseason because of his poor defense.
Managers and coaches need to be eliminated from the voting process. With their other responsibilities, it’s far too easy to pick a familiar name such as Jeter or Rolen than to see who’s truly deserving.
