The American League players to take home Gold Gloves this year were as follows:
C: Joe Mauer, Twins
1B: Mark Teixeira, Yankees
2B: Placido Polanco, Tigers
3B: Evan Longoria, Rays
SS: Derek Jeter, Yankees
OF: Torii Hunter, Angels
OF: Adam Jones, Orioles
OF: Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners
P: Mark Buehrle, White Sox
While many of the above players deserved their Gold Gloves, many earned them due to popularity, an exciting style of defensive play, and possibly as a measure to bring some light to their hapless small-market/struggling team, coming off of a dismal 2009 campaign where fans had little to be happy about. Below is a The Baseball Chronicle's list to of top defensive players in the American League. Each player is judged only upon their defensive prowess--not their popularity, career or value as a marketing tool for a lemon of a product.
Catcher: Gerald Laird, Detroit Tigers- In my opinion, Joe Mauer is the most complete and valuable player in both leagues, and his strong arm and game calling ability would put him atop the league in most years. But the fact is, Mauer barely caught 2/3 of the season, his CS% was down due to a bunch of soft tossers, and he allowed 9 passed balls. Laird in comparison, gave up 9 passed balls in 150 more innings of work, had a higher fielding percentage and thew out nearly 42% of runners attempting to steal.
First Base: Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees- Teixeira earned his Gold Glove and was an easy pick. Although he wasn't atop the league in UZR, his fielding percentage was untouchable, and his sparkling glove, stretch and turn-around ballet tag was visual poetry for Yankees fans watching the playoffs. Jeter, A-Rod and Cano all benefitted subtantially from Teixeira's glove; Jeter saw his errors lop in nearly in half from to just 8 in 2009, giving him the highest fielder percentage of any shortstop in the AL. A-Rod had his best fielding year since converting to third and Robinso Cano saw his non-chalant three-hopper qualify for an out far more often than it did during the Giambi administration.
Second Base: Placido Polanco, Detroit Tigers- Dustin Pedroia is the best fielding second baseman in the AL, but Placido Polanco simply outplayed him with the glove in 2009. Polanco led the AL in UZR, made a miniscule 2 errors in 1289.1 innings, exhibited range behind only Pedroia and Ian Kinsler, and was the best statistically the best at the double play.
Third Base: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays- Longoria is simply the best defensive third baseman in the AL. The Angels' Chone Figgins was a close second due to his superior range, but Longoria is the most complete package-- with an A-Rod Arm, plus-range and the most reliable glove in the AL.
Shortstop: Elvis Andrus, Texas Rangers- Derek Jeter is my favorite player, and has been since I began watching baseball nearly a decade-and-a-half ago-- and his glove this year was one of the better ones in the MLB. But, Jeter's AL-leading UZR was a product of his unusually high fielding percentage, not a newfound range, arm or accuracy at 35 years old. Derek was solid, but Mark Teixeira really won two gold gloves in 2009--one for himself and one for Derek. Andrus had the best range in the American League, turned 20 more double plays in 5 less games, and showed flashes of Rey Ordonez with his footwork and arm deep in the hole. The one blemish on Andrus was his 22 errors, but with Chris Davis and Hank Blalock splitting time at first, even Ray Sanchez would've made a handful of additional errors.
Outfield: Franklin Gutierrez, Nelson Cruz, Carl Crawford- Tori Hunter once again took home an undeserved Gold Glove. Hunter's mediocre play in center is annually overlooked because of a few ESPN highlight reals in which he hops the wall and snatches a ball headed for the rocks. ACTA Sports featured an article on this very subject, and emphasized the fact that Tori Hunter is in the middle of the league in runs saved every season. The Mariners' Franklin Gutierrez was arguably the best outfielder in the MLB in 2009, featuring the highest UZR (29.1) of any player at any position in either league. While Tori Hunter is lauded for his homerun snatches, Gutierrez even outmatched Hunter in that area as well--stealing one more home run than Hunter by season's end. Gutierrez's package of range, arm and route-running are the best in the MLB, period.
Ichiro Suzuki added one more Gold Glove to his trophy case, and deservedly so. Suzuki still features a cannon, and base-runners rarely test it anymore, resulting in a large amount of runs-saved every season. Suzuki was third in the AL with 11.1 runs saved and third amoung AL right-fielders in UZR. However, Nelson Cruz played slghtly better than Ichiro in 2009, posting a better UZR, saving more runs with his arm, posting an equivalent fielding percentage and doing it in on a team sans Endy Chavez and Frank Gutierrez.
Carl Crawford doesn't have the arm that Nelson Cruz or Adam Jones has, but his range and improved route-running have boosted him up to third among AL-outfielders in UZR. Crawford's style of play is fun to watch, but his value of play is even greater. Crawford once again had run-saving range behind only Franky Gutierrez and Ryan Sweeney, and exhibited an accurate arm in left and center.
Ryan Sweeney is a guy that has been overlooked for his defense thus far in his career. Sweeney has proven to be a fairly complete package--albeit with little power-- mixing a .290ish batting average, doubles power and outfield defense that rated (statistically) second only to Gutierrez in the AL in 2009. Sweeney's arm is strong, and although his range isn't a match for Grady Sizemore, his routes to drifting and fading fly-balls are some of the best in the game.
Pitcher: Mark Buerhle, Chicago White Sox- Not only was Buerhle the most reliable pitcher with the glove in 2009, but he also managed to lead the American League in pickoffs with 8 (2 more than Andy Pettitte's 6). Buerhle's defense is valuable, and his pick-off move--a tick lesser than Pettitte's- keeps even the quickest of baserunners leaning towards first.
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