Atlanta Braves Awarded Two Gold Glove Finalists

Jun 25, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves right fielder Nick Markakis (22) catches a fly ball against the New York Mets in the first inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Rawlings announced the Gold Glove award finalists today – with two Braves’ players getting nominations.  But does this award really matter anymore?

There was a big rollout announcement today – with MLB and most major league clubs chiming in to assist Rawlings Sports in making the announcement.

Two Atlanta Braves Have Two Gold Glove Finalists fielders – Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis were named as finalists in the National League for their respective outfield positions.  Each will face off against two others in the quest for the award… if you can call it that.

Here is the full list of finalists for each league:

That would seem to be a decent group of nominees.  Unfortunately, that about as far as it goes anymore for this once-prestigious trophy.

Aug 13, 2016; Bronx, NY, USA; Former New York Yankees Derek Jeter leaves the field following a ceremony for the reunion of the 1996 World Series Championship Team prior to a game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

The Trophy’s Title Misleads

The good news is that this award is voted on by the players – not the fans.  But while the trophy declares the recipient to be “The Finest in the Field”, that has often not been the case.

There are some problems:

One of the more egregious failings in recent memory was Rafael Palmeiro, who won the trophy for play at first base in 1997, 1998, and 1999.

However, in 1999 Palmeiro was used primarily as a DH – loggin only 28 games and 246 innings at first base.

At least the outcry of this outcome was enough to force a rules change:  players must now be qualified for their positions.

But there’s more:

Derek Jeter received five GG trophies during his career – the latest in 2009 and 2010.  By the metrics on fangraphs, Jeter was the sixth-ranked shortstop in his league that season… with the worse range rating and a negative Defensive Runs Saved score.

One wag some time ago was heard suggesting that Jeter’s first name must have been changed to “Past the Diving” since that’s how he often heard the Yankee shortstop referred to on broadcasts.

These are just a couple of examples and unfortunately, even managers and coaching staffs often don’t get the answers right.  Sometimes they do give their votes to better offensive performers or sentimental favorites.

Such failures have given rise to alternative award givers, and the Fielding Bible site is now a direct competitor to Rawlings.  They employ a panel of voters and rely more heavily on the fielding metrics.  They also allow themselves to think outside the boxes:  Ender Inciarte was recognized by them in 2015 for a multi-positional fielding award.

Given the fanfare of today’s announcements, I doubt that the Rawlings award is going out of style any time soon, but perhaps it is exactly because of this competition that the splashy press releases and social media blasts occurred.

Aug 4, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte (11) catches a ball at the wall against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

But Enough Editorializing

No, that’s not the first time we’ve complained about the management and fairness of a post-season award this week.  MLB does need to clean up this act somewhat.  But the braves do have a pair of finalists, and it would be a shame if at least one of them didn’t take the trophy home this year.

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Markakis is a past GG winner, getting the nod in both 2011 and 2014.  This year he runs up against Jason Heyward, who owns three awards and is the odds-on favorite for this year as well.

Still, the voting result could be a little interesting in regard to that ban on considering offensive worth, given that Markakis and Carlos Gonzalez both had solid offensive years and Heyward… well, … didn’t.

Looking at the metrics, it is a bit surprising that Markakis made the cut today:  his fangraphs’ defensive rating ranks 6th in the league, though he also logged the most innings.  Heyward is the runaway leader in the overall metric.

Looking further, CarGo was 8th out of the 9 qualifiers in fielding – but again, this raises thoughts about past reputation and offensive contributions.  Also notable: second-ranked fielder Bryce Harper and 4th ranked Hunter Pence are missing from the nomination list.

For the Center Field contest, this should be between Billy Hamilton and Ender Inciarte… period.  Both were head-and-shoulders above all other National League CF’s.

Inciarte missed some time early on, but Hamilton actually missed more, with the fewest innings of any qualifier.  Hopefully some of the spectacular plays made by Inciarte won over the voters… unfortunately, the game saver vs. the Mets was too late for the balloting, but the Braves’ tweeted this out today:

So there it is… and it is what it is.   But we’d certainly like to see at least one of these trophies awarded at SunTrust Park early next season!

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