Love the glove.
The Royals led the league in Outs Above Average with a much-improved defense, and now that improvement will be recognized with four players named as finalists for Gold Glove Awards - catcher Freddy Fermin, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and pitchers Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo.
Freddy Fermin is a first-time finalist in just his second full year in the big leagues. Fermin threw out 17 of 38 would-be base-stealers, a 45 percent caught rate that was highest among any catcher that faced at least 30 attempts. He was sixth in all of baseball in pitch blocking, third-best among AL catchers behind only Danny Jansen and Adley Rutschman. He was tied for second among all catchers in Defensive Runs Saved, behind only San Francisco’s Patrick Bailey. He is up against Detroit catcher Jake Rogers and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh. Fermin’s teammate Salvador Perez is a five-time Gold Glove winner at catcher.
Bobby Witt Jr. is also a first-time finalist in a breakout season that should see him finish top two in MVP voting. Witt led all American League shortstops in Defensive Runs Above Average and Outs Above Average. Witt started 160 games at short, more than anyone in baseball and was involved in 73 double plays, third-most among shortstops. To win his first Gold Glove he will have to beat out fellow finalists Brayan Rocchio of the Guardians and Anthony Volpe of the Yankees.
Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo were both named finalists at pitcher, and will try to become the first Royals pitcher to win the award since Bret Saberhagen in 1989. Both were among the nine AL pitchers to field at least 26 chances without an error. Lugo led all AL pitchers with 29 assists. They will be up against Angels pitcher Griffin Canning, who won in 2020.
Kyle Isbel was not named a finalist despite finishing third among AL centerfielders in Outs Above Average, seventh in Defensive Runs Saved, and sixth in Defensive Runs Above Average. Daulton Varsho of the Blue Jays and Jarren Duran of the Red Sox, both named finalists in CF, split time between center and left this year, playing substantially fewer innings in center than Isbel. Jake Meyers of the Astros is the other centerfield finalist in the AL. Maikel Garcia was also not a finalist despite finishing third among AL third basemen in Defensive Runs Above Average and fourth in Outs Above Average.
Among the finalists is former Royals first baseman Carlos Santana, who plays for the Twins, former second baseman Nicky Lopez, now with the White Sox, and former Royals minor leaguer Blake Perkins, now a centerfielder with the Brewers. You can see a complete list of finalists here.
Last year the Royals had no players nominated as finalists. A Royals player has not won a Gold Glove since Andrew Benintendi and Michael A. Taylor won in 2021.
The award is determined by a combination of a vote and the use of a metric called SABR Defensive Index, which measures the number of runs saved by a player’s defensive performance over the course of a season, compared to the average defensive player at that position. For the vote, each team gets seven votes, determined by the manager and six coaches, who cannot vote for their own players.
Winners will be revealed on Sunday, November 3 at 7:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.
