Mariners have three Gold Glove finalists

The finalists for the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards were announced this morning and the Mariners are well represented. Felix Hernandez, Kyle Seager and Robinson Cano are finalists for the awards, which will be handed out next month.

For Felix and Seager, this is the first time they have been Gold Glove finalists. Cano has won the Gold Glove twice – in 2010 and 2012.

The process for awarding the Gold Glove changed in 2013 when Rawlings began a collaboration with SABR to add a sabermetric component to the process. Managers and coaches still vote on the winners as in the past but they are now provided with numbers, including the SABR Defensive Index (SDI), which helps determine the best defensive players in the game. In addition to providing a statistical guide to the voters, there is a SDI component that factors into the final vote tally, although the votes from the managers and coaches still carry the most weight.

Seager is joined by Oakland’s Josh Donaldson and four-time Gold Glove winner Adrian Beltre of the Rangers as the finalists at third base. In the last SDI numbers that were released Sept. 7, it was Donaldson and Seager who were one-two on top of the list for all players, not just third base. In other words, according to the SDI, Seager was the second-best defensive player in the league. Not bad for a player who made the switch to third base four years ago.

Cano faces stiff competition for the award at second with Detroit’s Ian Kinsler and Boston’s Dustin Pedroia also named as finalists. While Cano has won the award in 2010 and 2012, Pedroia took home the hardware in the odd years, 2011 and 2013, and ranks higher this year in defensive runs saved and on the SDI.

Felix makes his first appearance as a finalist for the Gold Glove award, and while this is a surprise to many, I have always considered him to be a very good fielding pitcher. This is purely by the eye test but he covers first base nicely and in recent years he has had to handle a number of comebackers. This year he committed just one error. He takes his fielding seriously and this should be a nice honor for him. Toronto’s Mark Buehrle, who has won the award four times, and Houston’s Dallas Keuchel are the other two finalists.

The Mariners haven’t had a Gold Glove winner since 2010, when Ichiro Suzuki and Franklin Gutierrez took home the honors.

The winners will be announced at 4 p.m. on Nov. 4 on ESPN 2’s “Baseball Tonight”.

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