Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager was named a finalist for a 2017 Rawlings Gold Glove Award. He’s joined by Freddy Galvis of the Philadelphia Phillies, and Brandon Crawford of the San Francisco Giants. Crawford has won the award in each of the past two years.
He led all qualified National League shortstops this season with a 13.2 Defensive Runs Above Average (DEF), a 7.0 Universal Zone Rating (UZR), and was second with an 8.4 UZR/150. Crawford’s .982 fielding percentage ranked third in the league among players at his position.
Galvis was first among qualified NL shortstops with a .989 fielding percentage, while his 10.6 DEF was third-best, and 3.6 UZR ranking fourth. Galvis logged the most innings among the trio of finalists, at 1,359.1.
Seager graded out relatively well with metrics, as he was first in UZR/150 (9.5), and second in DEF (12.7) and UZR (6.7). His .979 fielding percentage was good for fifth.
Because of multiple injuries suffered during the season, Seager paled in comparison in terms of innings played, logging 1,162. He’s a finalist for a Gold Glove Award for the first time in his young career.
Crawford is widely considered the odds-on favorite to win the award a third straight year. In addition to leading NL shortstops in the aforementioned categories, his .790 RZR, which accounts for the proportion of balls hit into a fielder’s zone that are successfully converted into an out, was also first.
Crawford narrowly edged Seager (.788) in that statistic, and was comfortably ahead of Galvis (.775).
Cesar Izturis (2004) was the last Dodgers shortstop to win a Gold Glove Award.
