Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — Though the pain of losing to the Padres has not yet subsided (not sure it ever will), life has to move on. And though October baseball is still being played, some of the end-of-year awards are starting to come into focus. On Thursday, Rawlings announced their candidates for their annual Gold Glove awards. And, not surprisingly a couple of Dodgers made the list: right fielder Mookie Betts and pitcher Tyler Anderson are both finalists for the coveted fielding prize.
Gold Glove Award winners are chosen based on a combination of voting by managers and coaches, and approximately 25% of a stat called the the SABR Defensive Index (SDI). Only the manager and six coaches from each club vote, for a total of seven submissions per team. Managers and coaches cannot vote for their own players and can only submit ballots for those in their same league.
Betts eyes sixth Gold Glove
For Betts, it’s hardly surprising. Whatever the metric that is being used, Betts is clearly an elite defender in the outfield. His excellent first step allows him to run down balls that other fielders wouldn’t have a chance on and his speed and range lets him cut off balls in the gap with ease. Already the winner of the award five times (four in Boston and in 2020 in LA), Betts finds himself in some unusual company. Daulton Varsho and Juan Soto are also finalists.
But just on the eye test, you’d think Mookie wins this one in a walk. Varsho is a great fielder, especially for a converted catcher, but he only played 71 games in right. Soto, while a force at the plate, doesn’t strike me as a particularly good fielder, as witnessed by a couple of adventures that he had when the Dodgers played San Diego this year. So I’m guess Mookie will be adding to the hardware this year as well.
Anderson looks for first prize
You don’t think really about Tyler Anderson’s defense first, but I guess that is one of the aspects of the game that tend to get overlooked as a pitcher. However, Anderson’s stats have him in heady company among NL starters. According to the latest SABR stat, he leads all NL pitchers with a rating of 4.0, which puts him quite a bit ahead of the nearest competitor, Zac Gallen at 2.5. It should be noted that these SABR ratings are not final, only until August 28, so there were a handful of Anderson starts not included in this stat.
In addition, Anderson’s Defensive Runs Saved (5) was third-best among NL pitchers. It was bested only by the Philadelphia Phillies’ Ranger Suárez (9) and New York Mets’ Taijuan Walker (6), neither of whom made the final three.
Instead, Anderson will be measured against Max Fried of the Atlanta Braves, and Milwaukee Brewers’ Corbin Burnes. Fried has won back-to-back Gold Glove Awards. This marks Anderson’s first time being a finalist.
Notable names not on the list
This year a few former Gold Glovers on the Dodgers’ roster did not make it into the top three of the league, so won’t be adding to their trophy case in 2022. Cody Bellinger, the 2019 Gold Glove winner in center field did not make the cut this year. Instead, the prize will be decided among Victor Robles, Trent Grisham, and Alek Thomas.
Similarly, Freddie Freeman won’t be selected for the award this year. Freeman, who won the prize while a member of the Atlanta Braves in 2018, fell out of the top three this year amid some stiff competition at first base. In 2022, the Gold Glove will go to either the D-backs’ Christian Walker, Paul Goldschmidt of the Cards, or Freddie’s replacement in Atlanta Matt Olson.
One former Dodger who was surprisingly omitted was Manny Machado, who love him or hate him, has got elite skills at third. He was inexplicably passed over this year in favor of the Cards’ Nolan Arenado, Pirate Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Ryan McMahon of the Rockies. Go figure. Sorry, Manny.
The Gold Glove winners will be announced on a special edition of Baseball Tonight on ESPN, which will air on November 1, 2022 at 5:00 pm, PDT.
