Juan Soto highlights the 3 most outrageous inclusions in this year's Gold Glove Award finalists
The finalists for the AL and NL Gold Glove Awards were released on Tuesday, which can only mean one thing: It's time for everyone to get mad about the finalists for the AL and NL Gold Glove Awards. And for good reason: While MVP, Cy Young and All-Star selections merit plenty of spirited debate, no MLB award produces consistently confusing results like the Gold Gloves. Chalk it up to how difficult it still is to quantify a player's defensive impact, along with how difficult it is to keep tabs on every player at every position around the league.
This year, however, really took things to a whole different level. There were some truly puzzling inclusions and some truly baffling snubs, including a few of the very biggest names in the sport. Here are four that are guaranteed to leave fans scratching their heads.
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3. Blake Perkins, CF, Milwaukee Brewers
Snub: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs
Perkins certainly isn't a bad center fielder by any means. This is less about his inclusion and more about the omission of Crow-Armstrong, who produced a jaw-dropping highlight seemingly every other day while manning center for the Cubs.
Even beyond the eye test, Crow-Armstrong graded out as among the very best fielders at any position. Among qualified center fielders, he ranked first in Defensive Runs Saved, third in Outs Above Average and tied for first in Fielding Run Value. The Washington Nationals' Jacob Young will likely win this award, and deservedly so, but Crow-Armstrong is going to bag several of these over his career — at which point we'll look back at this snub and wonder what happened.
2. Juan Soto, RF, New York Yankees
Snub: Lawrence Butler, Oakland Athletics
No, you're not seeing things. Juan Soto is really a finalist for a Gold Glove Award, and not even for the first time in his career. Soto is, obviously, a superstar and one of the best all-around players in the sport. But his inclusion on this list has a lot more to do with the quirks of how this award gets decided than anything he did in the field this season: Players need to crack 698 innings through their team's first 138 games in order to be eligible, and only eight right fielders qualified in the AL this season; generally speaking, teams mix and match across the corner outfield spots more than ever before, as well as platooning at more defensively challenged positions like right field.
Even still, you could argue that Soto isn't a worthy choice here. While his outfield assist total is superficially impressive, that's much more to do about the close confines of right field at Yankee Stadium and teams' willingness to test his arm than anything else. Butler had Soto beat in most advanced defensive metrics, including DRS and OAA, where Soto graded out negatively.
1. Masyn Winn, SS, St. Louis Cardinals
Snub: Francisco Lindor, New York Mets
We're not quite sure what happened here, but while Lindor enjoyed a career year at the plate, he was his typical excellent self in the field, finishing tied for second in FRV behind only Swanson (who deservedly won this award last year). Winn put together a promising rookie season for the Cardinals, but this feels like too much, too soon — Lindor's range remains elite, and he gets to balls that most other shortstops could scarcely even dream of. He might not have too many elite years left as he hits his 30s, but that's all the more reason to give him his flowers while we can.