{"id":8075,"date":"2013-11-05T07:24:18","date_gmt":"2013-11-05T12:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=8075"},"modified":"2014-11-13T09:02:20","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T14:02:20","slug":"gold-glove-awards-review-with-advanced-metrics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=8075","title":{"rendered":"Gold Glove Awards review with Advanced Metrics"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Andrelton<\/a>

Andrelton Simmons put up what most consider the best defensive season of 2013. Photo via espn.go.com<\/p><\/div>\n

The recent years have been a rise in all sorts of statistical analysis in the game of baseball (as we all know), and one of the more important areas of research has been the measurement and tracking of defensive metrics. \u00a0The data we have at our disposal is not yet infallible, but the data has opened our eyes to the real impact that some major leaguers have on the defensive side of the ball.<\/p>\n

We’re all quite familiar with the WAR-based arguments that have completely consumed last year’s AL MVP award voting as an example of modern statistics helping to shape the selection of a traditional award winner. \u00a0However, up until 2013, the Gold Gloves remained an award that was given out without practically any consideration given to any advanced metric, and the awards have been embarassed in recent years with some amazingly inept selections. \u00a0The two most laughable selections of recent memory were Rafael Palemeiro<\/strong> in 1999 (given a Gold Glove for his play at 1B despite the fact that he only played 28 games<\/a> in the field that \u00a0year) and\u00a0Derek Jeter<\/strong> in 2010 (a year in which he posted a -5.1 UZR\/150<\/a>, was dead last among all 59 AL shortstops<\/a> in Total Zone Total Fielding\u00a0and had the selection was openly mocked by the normally staid Baseball-Reference.com website). \u00a0 Even the more defensible gold gloves over the past few years have been considered “wrong” by the stat-crowd, to the point where a number of national writers openly mock the awards and go out of their way to “ignore” th em.<\/p>\n

This concerns me as a fan, and as someone who is keenly interested in the Hall of Fame merits of players. \u00a0I absolutely believe that when it comes time to judge players on the whole of their careers, that individual awards such as the Gold Gloves, MVP and Cy Young awards matter. \u00a0I want these awards to be relevant and properly awarded.<\/p>\n

Two things have happened lately that give me hope:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Bill James<\/strong> and a varied panel of baseball writers, statisticians in the field and former players now vote on\u00a0The Fielding<\/em> Bible<\/em> awards each year. \u00a0The 2013 Fielding Bible awards<\/a>\u00a0are not league specific; they recognize the best in the majors at each position each year.<\/li>\n
  2. The Gold Glove award committee for the first time in 2013 has incorporated a statistical element<\/a>\u00a0to the traditional surveying of players and coaches to choose the award winners.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    (All winners\/leaders listed below are on one common Google XLS here<\/a>. \u00a0Listed are the winners of the GGs, Fielding Bibles, and then the leaders in each league by position of these Defensive stats: UZR\/150, DRS, FRAA, and Total Zone. \u00a0I haven’t gone into the various definitions and pros\/cons of these stats; I have a planned off-season defensive statistical overview post where I’ll go into greater detail).<\/p>\n

    First off, if you believe that the Fielding Bible panel has picked the best possible awardees, then you’ll be happy to note that every Fielding Bible award winner also received a Gold Glove this year. \u00a0Here’s the Fielding Bible winners by position for 2013:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Pos<\/td>\nFielding Bible Winner<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    C<\/td>\nYadier Molina, STL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    1B<\/td>\nPaul Goldschmidt, ARI<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2B<\/td>\nDustin Pedroia, BOS<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    SS<\/td>\nAndrelton Simmons, ATL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    3B<\/td>\nManny Machado, BAL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    LF<\/td>\nAlex Gordon, KC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    CF<\/td>\nCarlos Gomez, MIL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    RF<\/td>\nGerardo Parra, ARI<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    P<\/td>\nR.A. Dickey, TOR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Now, here’s the Gold Glove winners, with the Fielding Bible award winners bolded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Pos<\/td>\nAL GG Winner<\/td>\nNL GG Winner<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    C<\/td>\nSalvador Perez, KC<\/td>\nYadier Molina, STL<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    1B<\/td>\nEric Hosmer, KC<\/td>\nPaul Goldschmidt, ARI<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2B<\/td>\nDustin Pedroia, BOS<\/strong><\/td>\nBrandon Phillips, CIN<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    SS<\/td>\nJ.J. Hardy, BAL<\/td>\nAndrelton Simmons, ATL<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    3B<\/td>\nManny Machado, BAL<\/strong><\/td>\nNolan Arenado, COL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    LF<\/td>\nAlex Gordon, KC<\/strong><\/td>\nCarlos Gonzalez, COL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    CF<\/td>\nAdam Jones, BAL<\/td>\nCarlos Gomez, MIL<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    RF<\/td>\nShane Victorino, BOS<\/td>\nGerardo Parra, ARI<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    P<\/td>\nR.A. Dickey, TOR<\/strong><\/td>\nAdam Wainwright, STL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    As you’ll see below by looking at the various defensive metrics out there, most of the Gold Glove winners were merited. \u00a0In fact, there only seems to be one egregiously bad selection here (which we’ll get to below). \u00a0Nearly every other winner was at the top of one or more of the advanced metrics available by position for his league:<\/p>\n

    UZR\/150 leaders per league<\/strong> (again, with Fielding Bible winners bolded):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Pos<\/td>\nAL UZR\/150<\/td>\nNL UZR\/150<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    C<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    1B<\/td>\nMike Napoli, BOS<\/td>\nAnthony Rizzo, CHC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2B<\/td>\nBen Zobrist, TBR<\/td>\nDarwin Barney, CHC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    SS<\/td>\nYunel Escobar, TBR<\/td>\nAndrelton Simmons<\/strong> ATL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    3B<\/td>\nManny Machado, BAL<\/strong><\/td>\nJuan Uribe, LAD<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    LF<\/td>\nDavid Murphy, TEX<\/td>\nStarling Marte, PIT<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    CF<\/td>\nColby Rasmus, TOR<\/td>\nA.J. Pollack, ARI<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    RF<\/td>\nShane Victorino, BOS<\/td>\nGerardo Parra, ARI<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    P<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Defensive Runs Saved leaders per league<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Pos<\/td>\nAL DRS<\/td>\nNL DRS<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    C<\/td>\nSalvador Perez, KC<\/td>\nWellington Castillo, CHC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    1B<\/td>\nMike Napoli, BOS<\/td>\nAnthony Rizzo, CHC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2B<\/td>\nDustin Pedroia, BOS<\/strong><\/td>\nDarwin Barney, CHC<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    SS<\/td>\nPedro Florimon, MIN<\/td>\nAndrelton Simmons, ATL<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    3B<\/td>\nManny Machado, BAL<\/strong><\/td>\nNolan Arenado, COL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    LF<\/td>\nAlex Gordon, KC<\/strong><\/td>\nStarling Marte, PIT<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    CF<\/td>\nLeonys Martin, TEX<\/td>\nCarlos Gomez, MIL<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    RF<\/td>\nShane Victorino, BOS<\/td>\nGerardo Parra, ARI<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    P<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    FRAA Leaders per league<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Pos<\/td>\nAL FRAA<\/td>\nNL FRAA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    C<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    1B<\/td>\nEric Hosmer, KC<\/td>\nPaul Goldschmidt, ARI<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2B<\/td>\nIan Kinsler, TEX<\/td>\nDonovan Solano, MIA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    SS<\/td>\nNick Franklin, SEA<\/td>\nAndrelton Simmons, ATL<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    3B<\/td>\nManny Machado, BAL<\/strong><\/td>\nNolan Arenado, COL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    LF<\/td>\nAndy Dirks, DET<\/td>\nCarl Crawford, LAD<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    CF<\/td>\nAlejandro De Aza, CWS<\/td>\nBrandon Barnes, HOU<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    RF<\/td>\nShane Victorino, BOS<\/td>\nHunter Pence, SF<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    P<\/td>\nR.A. Dickey, TOR<\/strong><\/td>\nAndrew Cashner, SD<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    And lastly here’s the Total Zone Total Fielding leaders<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Pos<\/td>\nAL Total Zone Total Fielding<\/td>\nNL Total Zone Total Fielding<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    C<\/td>\nMatt Wieters, BAL<\/td>\nYadier Molina, STL<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    1B<\/td>\nMike Napoli, BOS<\/td>\nPaul Goldschmidt, ARI<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    2B<\/td>\nDustin Pedroia, BOS<\/strong><\/td>\nBrandon Phillips, CIN<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    SS<\/td>\nJayson Nix, NYY<\/td>\nAndrelton Simmons, ATL<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    3B<\/td>\nManny Machado, BAL<\/strong><\/td>\nJuan Uribe, LAD<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    LF<\/td>\nAlex Gordon, KC<\/strong><\/td>\nChris Heisey, CIN<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    CF<\/td>\nJacoby Ellsbury, BOS<\/td>\nDenard Span, WAS<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    RF<\/td>\nShane Victorino, BOS<\/td>\nNorichika Aoki, MIL<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    P<\/td>\nR.A. Dickey, TOR<\/strong><\/td>\nPatrick Corbin, ARI<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    So, after looking at all these leaders, lets talk a bit about the Gold Gloves and ask ourselves whether they did a good job representing the best defenders this year. \u00a0Position by position:<\/p>\n

    Catcher<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Salvator Perez<\/strong> is as good an AL pick as any; the only other AL catcher in the mix is\u00a0Matt Weiters<\/strong>. \u00a0On the NL side,\u00a0Jadier Molina<\/strong> has earned his reputation and backs it up on the metrics side. \u00a0His only challenger being the little known\u00a0Wellington Castillo<\/strong> from Chicago.<\/p>\n

    1st Base<\/strong><\/span>: Hosmer<\/strong> and Goldschmidt<\/strong> seem as good of picks as any; only\u00a0Mike Napoli<\/strong> and\u00a0Anthony Rizzo<\/strong> seemed close in either league. \u00a0Napoli may have been a better pick than Hosmer on the weight of the evidence.<\/p>\n

    2nd Base<\/strong><\/span>: There’s several decent candidates who were not honored, but I don’t think anyone is arguing vehimently against either Pedroia<\/strong> or Phillips<\/strong> as the winners. \u00a0Darwin Barney<\/strong> may be the most egreiged candidate.<\/p>\n

    Shortstop<\/strong><\/span>: the amazing\u00a0Andrelton Simmons<\/strong> led every possible statistical category; there was no chance he was losing. \u00a0 J. J. Hardy<\/strong>‘s selection wasn’t bad per se, but as you can see from the above tables four different AL shortstops led each of the four statistical measures. \u00a0None of them was Hardy though, making you wonder if his gold glove was slightly on reputation.<\/p>\n

    3rd Base<\/strong><\/span>: One day\u00a0Manny Machado<\/strong> will move back to short (maybe) and challenge Simmons for the title of “Best Shortstop in the Game.” \u00a0But for now he has to settle for easily being the best defensive 3B in the game. \u00a0As with Simmons, Machado led every possible defensive measure at his position. \u00a0On the NL side, the choice of\u00a0Nolan Arenado<\/strong> was a sound one, with only\u00a0Juan Uribe<\/strong>\u00a0really challenging him. \u00a0Thankfully the award didn’t go to someone like\u00a0David Wright<\/strong> or our own\u00a0Ryan Zimmerman<\/strong> based on reputation.<\/p>\n

    Left Field<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Alex Gordon<\/strong> was a sound choice; the NL choice of\u00a0Carlos Gonzalez<\/strong> may have been a disservice to one\u00a0Starling Marte<\/strong>. \u00a0However, picking individual positions for the OF is somewhat tough, especially for the corners. \u00a0Fangraphs lists RF winner\u00a0Gerardo Parra<\/strong> as a left-fielder for some reason.<\/p>\n

    Center Field<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Carlos Gomez<\/strong> is a great pick (and is one of the reasons I posted my “Why no MVP support for Gomez<\/a>” post in this space, which by the way, got almost no reaction from the readership…). \u00a0\u00a0Adam Jones<\/strong>\u00a0was nearly dead last in some of these range metrics and unfortunately has gotten this award via reputation (and his arm; still one of the best) as opposed to performance. \u00a0 Jones is clearly the “Derek Jeter” of 2013, and the voters really erred badly on his selection. \u00a0 Its hard for me to say who I would have preferred;\u00a0Jacoby Ellsbury<\/strong> is the biggest name among the four guys who led the four different defensive numbers, but Ellsbury’s arm is weak (nearly last of any CF in the league) and a better candidate would have been\u00a0Leonys Martin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    Right Field<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0Gerardo Parra<\/strong> and\u00a0Shane Victorino<\/strong> are the leading candidates for their leagues and both selections are warranted. \u00a0I know that\u00a0Hunter Pence<\/strong> led the NL in FRAA, but his arm is awful (one of the worst of any RF in the league), so that has to count against him. \u00a0 In fact, Victorino was as good as or better than Parra in most of these metrics (with the exception of Arm; Parra has one of the better arms in the league). \u00a0I’m guessing its arm strength that tipped the Fielding Bible balance to Parra.<\/p>\n

    —<\/p>\n

    Conclusion<\/strong><\/span>: I think the Gold Gloves did a pretty good job in 2013 of identifying the best overall defenders at each position. \u00a0With one significant exception (Adam Jones). \u00a0I think its time the sportswriters who have been purposely ignoring the awards come back into the fold.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The recent years have been a rise in all sorts of statistical analysis in the game of baseball (as we all know), and one of the more important areas of research has been the measurement and tracking of defensive metrics. \u00a0The data we have at our disposal is not yet infallible, but the data has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2667,6],"tags":[485,346,2088,1951,804,1921,1783,2092,593,1209,635,2093,398,251,1924,1659,2095,174,2086,2087,797,482,354,2091,2083,415,2084,786,794,281,1233,1210,1048,1573,1753,2094,626,1944,1947,1180,1855,1662,2090,781,646,36,2085,1142,1922,2089,1923,1569],"class_list":["post-8075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-awards","category-nonnatsbaseball","tag-adam-jones","tag-adam-wainwright","tag-aj-pollack","tag-alejandro-de-aza","tag-alex-gordon","tag-andrelton-simmons","tag-andrew-cashner","tag-andy-dirks","tag-anthony-rizzo","tag-ben-zobrist","tag-bill-james","tag-brandon-barnes","tag-brandon-phillips","tag-carl-crawford","tag-carlos-gomez","tag-carlos-gonzalez","tag-chris-heisey","tag-colby-rasmus","tag-darwin-barney","tag-david-murphy","tag-david-wright","tag-denard-span","tag-derek-jeter","tag-donovan-solano","tag-dustin-pedrioa","tag-eric-hosmer","tag-gerardo-parra","tag-hunter-pence","tag-ian-kinsler","tag-jacoby-ellsbury","tag-jayson-nix","tag-jj-hardy","tag-juan-uribe","tag-leonys-martin","tag-manny-machado","tag-matt-wieters","tag-mike-napoli","tag-nick-franklin","tag-nolan-arenado","tag-norichika-aoki","tag-patrick-corbin","tag-paul-goldschmidt","tag-pedro-florimon","tag-ra-dickey","tag-rafael-palmeiro","tag-ryan-zimmerman","tag-salvador-perez","tag-shane-victorino","tag-starling-marte","tag-wellington-castillo","tag-yadier-molina","tag-yunel-escobar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8075"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9893,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8075\/revisions\/9893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}