Ian Happ deserves to win a 3rd straight Gold Glove Award, and here's why
The Chicago Cubs again landed multiple finalists for the Gold Glove Award this winter, including Dansby Swanson at shortstop and Ian Happ in left field. For Happ, it's the third consecutive year that he's hoping to take home some hardware, and he is arguably coming off his best season, both offensively and defensively, for the Cubs.
The other two finalists, Brandon Marsh and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., had a great year defensively in their own right. However, it would be a surprise to see Happ not take home the trophy, as it's hard to look elsewhere once you glance over the key statistics. Let's take a look at some stats that show Happ in the lead of two of the most important categories:
Defensive Runs Saved:
- Happ, 8 DRS
- Marsh, 7 DRS
- Gurriel Jr., 4 DRS
An essential category in determining defensive run value is defensive runs saved, where Happ led all left fielders in the National League. Another easy way to put Happ ahead of the other finalists this season, is simply fielding percentage in each player's respective sample size:
Fielding percentage:
- Happ, .997 FPCT, one error in 1,248.1 innings.
- Gurriel, .980 FPCT, five errors in 1,059 innings
- Marsh, .978 FPCT, three errors in 684 innings
You can argue that Happ again isn't ahead in Outs Above Average or Runs Prevented, according to Baseball Savant, but he wasn't last year either. Where Gurriel had a clean 1.000 FPCT last season, Happ recorded a near-perfect mark in 2024 and, by all accounts, should win this year if he won last year. He did everything that made him win last year even better this season, and he deserves a three-peat this year because of it.
Happ's defense in left field has helped give the Cubs one of the best outfield defenses in MLB, something President Jed Hoyer has strongly emphasized recently. Happ has lived up to that mark, and it's hard to see him not taking home his third consecutive Gold Glove Award because of it.
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