By Ryan Bologna
Oct. 18, 2023
Clutch­Points

New York Yan­kees short­stop Antho­ny Volpe has been named a final­ist for the Gold Glove Award for short­stop in the Amer­i­can League, Rawl­ings announced on Twitter.

Vet­er­an short­stops Corey Sea­ger of the Texas Rangers and Car­los Cor­rea of the Min­neso­ta Twins were the oth­er two final­ists named for the award. It was a sur­prise to some that Kansas City Roy­als short­stop Bob­by Witt Jr. was not among the final­ists after a strong defen­sive season.

Volpe being named a final­ist for the Gold Glove may come as a sur­prise to some. His offen­sive per­for­mance left some to be desired in his rook­ie sea­son. How­ev­er, when look­ing at the defen­sive met­rics, Volpe put togeth­er a strong season.

The rook­ie Volpe record­ed 16 defen­sive runs saved, which was tied for the most in the Amer­i­can League, accord­ing to Fan­Graphs. Outs above aver­age did not rate him as high­ly, as he record­ed just one, and he did com­mit 17 errors.

Sea­ger had five defen­sive runs saved with neg­a­tive two outs above aver­age and eight errors, accord­ing to Fan­Graphs. Cor­rea had neg­a­tive three defen­sive runs saved with neg­a­tive one outs above aver­age. The for­mer plat­inum glove win­ner had a down year defen­sive­ly, but he still clear­ly has a lot of respect from the vot­ers for how strong he was in pri­or seasons.

Out of the final­ists, Volpe has the strongest stats. It would not be a sur­prise to see him win the award, but Sea­ger and Cor­rea have strong defen­sive rep­u­ta­tions, so they could get the nod.

Witt, who as men­tioned before, was arguably snubbed, had neg­a­tive six defen­sive runs saved, 14 outs above aver­age and 12 errors, accord­ing to Fan­Graphs. So Witt has some con­flict­ing rat­ings based on those stats, but the high amount of outs above aver­age is very impressive.

Regard­less, Volpe did put togeth­er a sol­id defen­sive sea­son and is deserv­ing of the nom­i­na­tion, even though it might have sur­prised some. He still has things to clean up, like poten­tial­ly bring­ing the error count down, but it was a strong rook­ie sea­son on the defen­sive side of the ball.