© Stan Szeto | 2018 Jul 11
Giants catcher Buster Posey and shortstop Brandon Crawford have been nominated for Gold Glove awards, Rawlings announced today.
Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals and Manny Piña of the Milwaukee Brewers are the other nominees at the catcher position, while Freddy Galvis (Braves) and Nick Ahmed (D-Backs) round out the list at shortstop.
#Rawlings #GoldGlove Award Finalists – NL C – @sfgiants @busterposey, @cardinals @yadimolina04, @brewers Manny Pina pic.twitter.com/Lzcbtl3MCU
— Rawlings Sports (@RawlingsSports) October 25, 2018
#Rawlings #GoldGlove Award Finalists – NL SS – @padres @freddygalvis10, @sfgiants @bcraw35, @dbacks @NickAhmed13 pic.twitter.com/75uRKthqOC
— Rawlings Sports (@RawlingsSports) October 25, 2018
Posey, 31, has won the Gold Glove just once, in 2016, but has been nominated multiple times. In many of those years, Posey was beaten out by Molina, who won the award eight consecutive times from 2008-2015. Piña has never won the award. Tucker Barnhart of the Cincinnati Reds won the award last year.
Posey is a long shot to win this year, as the catcher appeared in just 85 games in 2018. Molina is likely once again the favorite. He appeared in the most games of the three and boasted the highest fielding percentage (.998) of all qualifying catchers.
Crawford, 31, has won the award the last three seasons, and is bidding to be the first NL shortstop since Ozzie Smith to win it in four consecutive years (H/T Andrew Baggarly). Crawford probably isn’t the favorite to win again as he finished fourth in the SABR defensive index amongst NL shortstops. However, Brandon Belt finished first among NL first basemen in that category, and did not receive a nomination, likely because he started just 97 games.
Freddie Freeman (Braves), Joey Votto (Reds), and Anthony Rizzo (Cubs) are the three nominees at first base.