Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager captured his first American League Gold Glove Tuesday. In a minor surprise, Seager beat out Oakland’s Josh Donaldson and Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers, and a former Mariner.
Fellow Mariners Robinson Cano (2B) and Felix Hernandez (P) were also finalists at their positions but did not win.
The 27-year-old Seager had the highest fielding percentage among qualifying third basemen in 2014 at .981 (eight errors, 422 chances), the 10th-best mark by an AL third baseman dating to 1948.
“It is an honor to just be up for the award with all the great third basemen, let alone win the Gold Glove,” said Seager. “I really owe a lot to my coaches, especially Chris Woodward. He helped me tremendously.”
Seager made 157 starts at third, trailing only Miami’s Casey McGehee (158), and ranked second in the majors in assists (327), double plays (36) and innings played (1,402.0). The Fielding Bible also showed that Seager led all third basemen in good throws to first with a 96.6-percent “good throw” rate, and that he led the AL at his position with a plus-24 rating in runs saved, via Baseball-Reference.com.
Seager is the first Mariner to win a Gold Glove since Ichiro and Franklin Gutierrez in 2010. The Mariners had at least one Gold Glove winner in 24 consecutive seasons from 1987-2010. Seager is the second third baseman in club history to win a Gold Glove, joining Beltre, who won in 2007 and 2008.
Gold Gloves are presented annually to 18 players, one for each position in both leagues. The selection process is based on 75 percent votes cast by manager and coaches and 25 percent based on the SABR Defensive Index (statistics-based).
A former Mariner, Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles, won his fourth AL Gold Glove.
1 Comment
If I were to rank the M’s nominated I would have thought Felix would be a lock, Cano a close second and Seager a simple consideration, especially with Beltre in the mix at 3B. A great accomplishment by Kyle.