Baseball’s Gold Glove Finalists Announced
Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc., announced today the finalists for the 2018 Rawlings Gold Glove Award®, honoring the best individual fielding performances at each position in the American League™ and National League™. The winners will be unveiled during a live, one-hour “Baseball Tonight – The 2018 Rawlings Gold Glove Award® Announcement Show” on ESPN Sunday, November 4, 2018, at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT. The show will be hosted by Karl Ravich alongside with Eduardo Perez.
Experience the interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8433751-rawlings-2018-gold-glove-award/
While the award originated in 1957, Rawlings first began highlighting the top-three defenders at each position in 2011. Since then, only two players have been named a Rawlings Gold Glove Award finalist each year: Kansas City left fielder Alex Gordon and St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina.
A number of players are vying for the designation as the best defender at their respective positions. The Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves lead all teams with five finalists each. The longest, active consecutive streak of Rawlings Gold Glove Award wins belongs to the Colorado Rockies’ Nolan Arenado with five.
Each manager and up to six coaches on his staff vote from a pool of qualified players in their League, and cannot vote for players from their own team. In 2013, Rawlings added a sabermetric component to the Rawlings Gold Glove Award selection process, as part of its collaboration with the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). The SABR Defensive Index™ comprises approximately 25 percent of the overall selection total, with the managers and coaches’ vote continuing to carry the majority.
The 2018 Rawlings Gold Glove Award finalists are:
AMERICAN LEAGUE |
||
Pos |
Player |
2018 Team |
P |
Corey Kluber |
Cleveland Indians™ |
Dallas Keuchel |
Houston Astros™ |
|
Masahiro Tanaka |
New York Yankees™ |
|
C |
Yan Gomes |
Cleveland Indians™ |
Martin Maldonado |
Los Angeles Angels™ / Houston Astros™ |
|
Salvador Perez |
Kansas City Royals™ |
|
1B |
Justin Smoak |
Toronto Blue Jays™ |
Matt Olson |
Oakland Athletics™ |
|
Mitch Moreland |
Boston Red Sox™ |
|
2B |
Jed Lowrie |
Oakland Athletics™ |
Ian Kinsler |
Los Angeles Angels™ / Boston Red Sox™ |
|
Rougned Odor |
Texas Rangers™ |
|
3B |
Alex Bregman |
Houston Astros™ |
Jose Ramirez |
Cleveland Indians™ |
|
Matt Chapman |
Oakland Athletics™ |
|
SS |
Marcus Semien |
Oakland Athletics™ |
Andrelton Simmons |
Los Angeles Angels™ |
|
Francisco Lindor |
Cleveland Indians™ |
|
LF |
Brett Gardner |
New York Yankees™ |
Alex Gordon |
Kansas City Royals™ |
|
Andrew Benintendi |
Boston Red Sox™ |
|
CF |
Adam Engel |
Chicago White Sox™ |
Mike Trout |
Los Angeles Angels™ |
|
Jackie Bradley, Jr. |
Boston Red Sox™ |
|
RF |
Kole Calhoun |
Los Angeles Angels™ |
Mookie Betts |
Boston Red Sox™ |
|
Aaron Judge |
New York Yankees™ |
NATIONAL LEAGUE |
||
Pos |
Player |
2018 Team |
P |
Julio Teheran |
Atlanta Braves™ |
Zack Greinke |
Arizona Diamondbacks™ |
|
Clayton Richard |
San Diego Padres™ |
|
C |
Buster Posey |
San Francisco Giants™ |
Yadier Molina |
St. Louis Cardinals™ |
|
Manny Pina |
Milwaukee Brewers™ |
|
1B |
Joey Votto |
Cincinnati Reds™ |
Freddie Freeman |
Atlanta Braves™ |
|
Anthony Rizzo |
Chicago Cubs™ |
|
2B |
DJ LeMahieu |
Colorado Rockies™ |
Kolten Wong |
St. Louis Cardinals™ |
|
Javier Baez |
Chicago Cubs™ |
|
3B |
Nolan Arenado |
Colorado Rockies™ |
Anthony Rendon |
Washington Nationals™ |
|
Travis Shaw |
Milwaukee Brewers™ |
|
SS |
Freddy Galvis |
San Diego Padres™ |
Brandon Crawford |
San Francisco Giants™ |
|
Nick Ahmed |
Arizona Diamondbacks™ |
|
LF |
Christian Yelich |
Milwaukee Brewers™ |
Corey Dickerson |
Pittsburgh Pirates™ |
|
Adam Duvall |
Cincinnati Reds™ / Atlanta Braves™ |
|
CF |
Billy Hamilton |
Cincinnati Reds™ |
Lorenzo Cain |
Milwaukee Brewers™ |
|
Ender Inciarte |
Atlanta Braves ™ |
|
RF |
Jon Jay |
Kansas City Royals™ / Arizona Diamondbacks™ |
Jason Heyward |
Chicago Cubs™ |
|
Nick Markakis |
Atlanta Braves™ |
The 2018 finalists include 11 former Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners in the American League and 12 former winners in the National League.
Following the ESPN announcement telecast on Nov. 4th, voting for the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award™ presented by SABR will begin online at www.rawlings.com. The voting will open at 10 p.m. Eastern Time and will remain open until Thursday, Nov. 8th at 10 p.m. Eastern Time. The public can vote to weigh in as to who is “The Finest in the Field®” in both the American League and National League. Fans can only select one player among the 2018 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners from each League.
A combination of the national fan vote and the SABR Defensive Index will determine who takes home the honor of each League’s top defensive player.
The Rawlings Platinum Glove Award winners will be unveiled during the 2018 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Ceremony on Friday, November 9, 2018.
About the Rawlings Gold Glove Award®
The Rawlings Gold Glove Award® is a registered trademark owned by Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc. The award is correctly identified as the Rawlings Gold Glove Award. The name should not be shortened, abbreviated or otherwise misused. Proper identification of this service mark using the registration symbol and the Rawlings name is important to protect the integrity of the program and perpetuate this worthy tradition. For more information, please visit www.rawlings.com.