Yadier Molina, Albert Pujols among NL's Gold Glove winners
Yesterday, Major League Baseball offered up its Rawlings Gold Glove awards to the National League's best. The Gold Glove awards are given out to the best defensive players at their position in the league at the end of each season. This year Yadier
Molina at catcher, and Albert Pujols at first baseman, both from St. Louis were among the big winners, while Scott Rolen took an incredible eighth award.
Catcher: Yadier Molina
Catcher Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals won his third gold glove since entering into the league in 2004. He appeared in the second most games this season for a catcher with 135,
and had a fielding percentage of .995. Brian McCann was also an outside bet, as the Atlanta Braves catcher appeared in one more game than Molina, but acquired 14 errors to Molina’s five which might have been the decisive point.
First baseman: Albert Pujols
First baseman Albert Pujols, also of the Cardinals, won his second Gold Glove, appearing in 157 games. This award was up for plenty of arguments as Milwaukee Brewers Prince Fielder and James Loney of the
Los Angeles Dodgers were both in the running. The deciding factor was thought to be the assists and fielding percentage total, which Pujols was in first place for.
Second baseman: Brandon Phillips
Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips won his second Gold Glove over competitors Rickie Weeks and Dan Uggla. The reason being here is that even though Phillips played in seven less games than leader
Weeks, he only made three errors in 703 total chances, while Weeks made 15 errors in 736 chances and Uggla made 18 in 745 chances. Phillips finished with a fielding percentage of .996, leaps and bounds ahead of Weeks and Uggla.
Third baseman: Scott Rolen
Reds third baseman Scott Rolen won his eighth gold glove award, further cementing himself as the defensive standard for the hot corner in the NL. Even though he appeared in only 130 games, the veteran finished
with the highest fielding percentage of the other third basemen that played in 130 games or more with .977.
Shortstop: Troy Tulowitzki
Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies won his first gold glove at the shortstop position. This award could have gone to several other candidates, especially Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Stephen Drew.
Drew played in 25 more games than Tulowitzki, made the same amount of errors with 10, and finished with the same fielding percentage of .984. Drew even finished higher that Tulowitzki with his 391 assists to Tulowitzki’s 388.
Outfield: Michael Bourn, Carlos Gonzalez, Shane Victorino
Houston Astros Michael Bourn was one of the three outfielders to receive this award. This was his second gold glove, and he earned it with his .992 fielding percentage, eight assists and numerous highlight
reel catches.
Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies won his first gold glove for his outfield work this season. He also had eight assists, with one error for a fielding percentage of .996.
Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies has won his third gold glove in a row, and is the picture of consistency. He appeared in 143 games, had 11 assists and only two errors.
Pitcher: Bronson Arroyo
Finally, Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo had a perfect season fielding his position. With zero errors in 49 total chances, and of course the best hair cut, he was a cinch to take home his first gold glove.
After the awards ceremony, it was clear that the defensive prowess of the NL lives in the central division with the Reds and the Cardinals.
“When we built the team for this year, one of the things we emphasized was improving our defense," Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said according to mlb.com. "I think the result was very positive -- the
accomplishment by the team as a whole, but in particular the three guys honored today. As an organization, we are very pleased and also very proud of these guys."
Tags: