Simmons, Heyward Are 2013 Gold Glove Finalists

Jason Heyward and Andrelton Simmons were both named as 2013 Rawling Gold Glove Finalists this morning.

Heyward is looking for his second straight Gold Glove award.  Jason is a finalist in right field along with the Diamondbacks Gerardo Parra and the Reds Jay Bruce.  I personally think Heyward should win it, but with his time missed and the time he spent in center this season, I wouldn’t be surprised if Parra takes it.

Simmons is looking to win his first of many Gold Gloves.  Andrelton joins the Rockies two-time winner (2010-11) Troy Tulowitzki and the Nationals Ian Desmond as finalists at shortstop.  Jimmy Rollins won the award last season. I believe Simmons is the clear favorite here, unless they try to bring offense in to the equation, which has happened in the past.  Andrelton led all of baseball in defensive bWAR this season and pretty much any other sabermetric stat you can think of.  He led all NL shortstops in putouts, assists, range factor, DRS, and was generally considered the best defensive player at his position in baseball.  This should be the first of many Simmons Gold Gloves that Simba earns in his career.

There was a lot of buzz this morning on twitter when the finalists were announced and Freddie Freeman was not on the list.  I think they probably got it right.  Freeman is good, but he is not the best.  His range leaves a bit to be desired. While I am not surprised that he was left off the list, I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was included either.  Like I said, he is good, just not the best.

In case you were wondering, Dan Uggla was not a finalist.

The winners are going to be announced on next Tuesday, October 29th.  Also, this is the first season that they are supposed to include all the defensive sabermetrics into the selection process.  We shall see how much that really matters on Tuesday.