2013 AL Gold Glove Finalists: First Baseman

Major League Baseball is preparing to hand out honors from MVP to Silver Slugger to Gold Glove and the finalists for each have been selected.

Today I’ll be covering the players who made the final ballot for Gold Glove honors. I already covered the finalists for catchers, so if you haven’t checked out that article go ahead and click here.

Now let’s continue to go down the line and the next group of guys up features not only defense, but tons of power.

Eric Hosmer, Kansas City Royals – Hosmer is another young player that is in his third year in the league and is already up for Gold Glove honors. Ever since his debut in 2011 with this team, he’s been making some noise but has stayed under the radar because of the team he’s on. He’s a player that may get overlooked, but not for long. In his last three seasons Hosmer has been a career .993 fielder with 25 errors. The errors need to be worked on, but that’s really his only flaw. He just celebrated a birthday (yesterday) so now the 24 year old will be waiting at home in hopes of getting that call about him winning this award. Offensively he’s hit 17 home runs and 79 RBI’s with a batting line of .302/.353/.448. This kid has a great future ahead of him.

Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles – It’s no surprise that this guy pretty much has the American League MVP award in the bags after an explosive year offensively. I knew this guy had some power behind his bat, but I never expected him to almost hit 55 home runs this season. Davis also drove in 138 RBI’s with a batting line of .286/.370/.634 in his second full year with the Orioles. In his first full season with the Orioles, he was pretty much a utility player as he seen some time at left field, right field and even made an appearance as a brief relief pitcher before making his final stop at first base. His fielding percentage of .996 is his second highest in his Major League career and only had six errors through 155 games which is absolutely amazing.

James Loney, Tampa Bay Rays – James Loney had one heck of a season with the Tampa Bay Rays after having somewhat of a bust season with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox. Loney hit 13 home runs and drove in 75 runs while hitting .299/.348/.430 across the line. Loney has always been a great defensive first baseman as he’s a career .994 fielder. This season he managed to kick up his percentage a couple points as a former Red Sox/Dodger. It jumped from .992 to .995 with only seven errors. He had 98 assists and was apart of 115 double plays this season with the Rays. I think he finally found a team that won’t give up on him.