Four Atlanta Braves among Gold Glove finalists for 2022
By Fred Owens
Atlanta Braves players will need to support of the league’s managers and coaches to win because none of them head SABR’s list at their position, so here’s a look at the competition.
Catcher
It’s no surprise that Realmuto leads the SABR list with a 6.5 SDI. The Phillies’ backstop is widely regarded as the best all-around catcher in the game. Offense isn’t a factor in SDI and isn’t supposed to affect voting, but there’s no way of ensuring voters won’t consider it.
I was a bit surprised to see Tomás Nido on the list. I knew Buck Showalter preferred him over McCann, but I thought that was based on the lesser of two bad offensive options.
However, Baseball Prospectus has Nido ahead of both d’Arnaud and Realmuto in that order. Fangraphs disagrees, putting Nido third and d’Arnaud second. SDI has TDA sandwiched between them in second.
I believe Realmuto will win the Gold Glove. His SDI is three times that of d’Arnaud, and his reputation will swing the voters who don’t look at those things.
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First Base
I was surprised that the former first baseman for the Atlanta Braves didn’t make the cut against Matt Olson and Paul Goldschmidt, but the third spot goes to Christian Walker.
Fangraphs composite Defense stat favors Walker by a huge margin over Olson and Goldschmidt. He leads in Olson by 12 DRS, OAA, and 9 RAA and has his nose in front of Goldschmidt by a difference of 0.4 in UZR. Goldschmidt’s negative six OAA should end the discussion. SDI agrees with that order, putting Olson 9.3 behind in second and Goldschmidt a distant third with a negative 0.4,
Notably, SDI has Rhys – how do I play this position? – Hoskins and his –6 OAA in second place, so I’m concerned with their formula because even Phillies fans don’t believe he’s good there. I digress.
On paper, this looks like the Diamondbacks’ first sacker will walk away with the Gold Glove. Yes, I meant to use the pun; no, I am not sorry. I don’t have any feel for how well he plays the position overall, but he’s always looked good when I was watching, so I’ll take Walker.