J.P. Crawford and Evan White Announced As Rawlings Gold Glove Finalists
First-time finalists, they are the first Mariners infielders to be finalists since Seager and Canó in 2016
SEATTLE, Wash. — Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford and first baseman Evan White have been selected as finalists for the 2020 Rawlings® American League Gold Glove at their respective positions, as announced today by the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company and Major League Baseball.
Crawford is one of three finalists for the American League Gold Glove at shortstop with Carlos Correa (Houston) and Niko Goodrum (Detroit). White is one of three finalists for the American League Gold Glove at first base with Yuli Gurriel (Houston) and Matt Olson (Oakland).
The Rawlings® Gold Glove Awards will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 3rd on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight.
Crawford finished the 2020 season ranked 2nd among American League shortstops with 6 Defensive Runs Saved, trailing only Houston’s Carlos Correa (8). The 25-year-old led AL shortstops with 62 Out of Zone plays, while his 4.9 defensive runs above average was 2nd-best among AL shortstops, behind only Cleveland’s Francisco Lindor (8.4). His 2.5 UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) ranked 2nd among AL shortstops (Lindor, 5.8). Crawford also ranked in the following categories among American League shortstops: assists (2nd, 145), putouts (3rd, 73), outs above average (3rd, 4) and runs prevented (T-3rd, 3). All rankings via FanGraphs and Baseball Savant. The only Mariners shortstop to earn a Gold Glove award is Omar Vizquel (1993). The last Mariners infielder to win the award was Kyle Seager (2014).
White led American League first basemen with 7 Defensive Runs Saved, ranking ahead of Oakland’s Matt Olson (5), Chicago-AL’s José Abreu (5) and Cleveland’s Carlos Santana (5). White led AL first basemen with 7 Scoops, ranking ahead of Santana (6), and led AL first basemen with 11 Out of Zone plays, ranking ahead of Olson (10) and Houston’s Yuli Gurriel (10). According to FanGraphs, his 2.2 UZR was 2nd-best among AL first basemen, trailing only Olson (2.5). The 24-year-old’s .998 fielding percentage was just points behind Gurriel (.998) and Olson (.998) for the lead among AL first basemen, as those were the only three qualifying AL first basemen to make no more than 1 error. He ended the season with 49 consecutive games without an error, successfully converting each of his 363 total chances (333 PO, 30 A) over that span. According to Baseball Savant, he tied for the most runs prevented (2) among AL first basemen with Abreu and Olson, while ranking tied for 2nd in outs above average (2), behind only Olson (3).
The Rawlings® Gold Glove Award is presented annually to 18 players, one for each position, in both the American and National Leagues. Due to the compressed 2020 season, the Award qualifications have been amended to rely solely on the SABR Defensive Index, which draws on and aggregates two types of existing defensive metrics: those derived from batted ball location-based data and those collected from play-by-play accounts. SDI utilizes MLBAM’s Statcast, Sports Information Solutions data, and STATS, LLC data as well as traditional statistics with advanced analysis. For 2020 Award consideration, pitchers must have pitched at least 50 innings, catchers must have played in at least 29 games and infielders/outfielders must have completed at least 265 defensive innings. Each player qualifies at the position he has played at most (SDI is only for play at qualified position).
