Three Cardinals are Gold Glove finalists - A Hunt and Peck

The World Series is still in full swing, but that does not mean it is too early to start looking towards award season. On Thursday Rawlings revealed the 2020 finalist for their famous Gold Glove Awards. Three Cardinals made the list — first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, second baseman Kolten Wong, and left fielder Tyler O’Neill.

Goldschmidt has been trading this award back and forth with Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo seems to have the edge in most defensive categories like Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating as well as Out of Zone plays. Goldschmidt is at a bit of disadvantage having not played as many innings due to the Cardinals coronavirus outbreak. It will be close, but it looks like Rizzo might edge him out for the second straight year.

It is not really necessarily to dig too deep into Kolten Wong’s stats. Wong is the easy and clear choice — he beats the pants off the other finalists. Nico Hoerner only played in 200 innings at second base... MLB.com is trying to role out Adam Frazier’s Statcast outs above average to make his case, but Wong should win his second straight Gold Glove.

The surprise in the list was Tyler O’Neill, but really maybe it should not have been. He was by far the best left fielder according to defensive runs saved with 9. These outfielder defense awards always seem to be tricky, so while he seems to be the most deserving, it is anyone’s guess on if he will actually win.

Of course, it is time to address the omission of Yadier Molina from the catcher finalists for the first time in 84 years — well, it has been at least like 12 years. Of course we all know Yadier Molina and of course he took it in stride and calmly congratulated the finalists on social media and lol that’s hilarious to imagine because we all know he absolutely did not do that and was extremely salty and furious. In a regular-length season Yadier Molina’s durability would have probably played a big role in him making it to the final three, so the shortened season did do him kind of dirty. However, this season the three finalists appear to have been better defensively. Tucker Barnheart seems to be the most deserving and, though he did win a Gold Glove back in 2017, he has been good for awhile and waiting his turn. Maybe Yadi will use this a fuel for next year!

2020 Gold Glove finalists unveiled |MLB.com

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