Phillies defense improving, led by trio of Gold Glove Award candidates

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No Phillies player has won a Gold Glove since 2012

The Philadelphia Phillies are currently one of the most inconsistent contending teams in Major League Baseball.

The biggest problem for the team in getting on a long winning run has been consistently poor pitching from both the starters and the bullpen group.

Offensively, they are a middle of the pack team, with the Phillies run production having fluctuated wildly all year long. The club’s hitters are collectively tied for 15th among the 30 MLB teams with 4.81 runs scored per game.

The one area of the game at which the Phillies have been solid this year is on defense. The gloves are currently tied for sixth in the NL in fielding percentage, having committed 55 errors, tied for fifth-lowest in the league.

The SABR Defensive Index of individual player performances was released through games of July 7, just about 10 days ago. For the seventh consecutive season in 2019, the SDI will be used to help select the winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. The SDI accounts for approximately 25% of the Gold Glove selection process, added to votes from the managers and coaches.

Based on the SDI as of July 7, the Phillies have three players who are legitimate National League Gold Glove Award contenders. Those three are right fielder Bryce Harper, catcher J.T. Realmuto, and perhaps surprisingly to some, left fielder Jay Bruce.

All three of those Phillies players are ranked second by the SDI at their positions. Harper’s 3.7 mark trails well behind the 7.6 of Dodgers right fielder Cody Bellinger and his 7.6 SDI rating. In left field, Bruce’s 4.4 is right behind the 4.7 of positional leader David Peralta of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

J.T. Realmuto might be the best chance for a Phillies player to actually win a Gold Glove Award in 2019. (Kyle Ross/Icon Sportswire)

Realmuto, the one Phillies representative on this year’s NL All-Star team, has an 8.5 SDI. That is the third-highest mark in the entire National League among all players. Unfortunately, one of the two ahead of him is San Diego Padres catcher Austin Hedges and his 9.1 mark.

Aside from those three, the rest of the Phillies defenders do not fare as well. Shortstop Jean Segura has a positive mark of 0.8, which places him at 8th among the 17 players rated. Maikel Franco has a -1.3 rating, putting him at 13th of the 19 third basemen rated.

Minor league second baseman Daniel Brito earns Gold Glove Award

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For the second consecutive season the Philadelphia Phillies organization has the best defensive second baseman in the minor leagues.

Daniel Brito, who split the season between the Low-A Lakewood BlueClaws and the High-A Clearwater Threshers, was named as a Gold Glover by Minor League Baseball and the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc. in honors announced on Monday.

The 20-year-old second baseman was signed by the Phillies back in 2014 as an amateur free agent out of his native Venezuela. He played 92 games with Lakewood this season, then was promoted to Clearwater where he appeared in another 27 contests.

In announcing the honor, Minor League Baseball stated that Brito “…recorded a .988 fielding percentage in 116 games, the highest mark among second basemen in Minor League Baseball. The 20-year-old handled 418 total chances in 92 games for Class A Lakewood, and 101 more in 24 games for Class A Advanced Clearwater, helping turn 78 double plays across the two levels.”

Brito is ranked as the #12 Phillies prospect by MLB.com at this time. In our Phillies Nation Top 20 Phillies Prospects rankings back in early August, he received mention in the “Also receiving votes” section.

A year ago it was Scott Kingery being honored as the minor league 2017 Gold Glove Award winner at second base. Kingery went on top play most of this 2018 season as the Phillies starting shortstop.

Brito is considered a glove-first player at present. He hit for just a .252/.307/.342 slash line with 16 stolen bases over 468 plate appearances across the two minor league levels this past season.

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Daniel Brito earns minor league Gold Glove honors"

Nine First-Timers Among 2016 Gold Glove Award Winners

The 2016 MLB Gold Glove Awards were announced last night, and there were nine first-timers among the honorees.

When MLB announced the 2016 Gold Glove Award winners for fielding excellence last night, a total of nine first-timers were among the honorees across the two leagues.

In the National League, center fielder Ender Inciarte of the Atlanta Braves, second baseman Joe Panik and catcher Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants, and first baseman Anthony Rizzo from the world champion Chicago Cubs were all first-time winners.

In the American League,  Brett Gardner of the New York Yankees in left field and Mookie Betts of the rival Boston Red Sox in right field each won their first Gold Glove Award.

On the infield in the AL, first baseman Mitch Moreland of the Texas Rangers, second baseman Ian Kinsler of the Detroit Tigers, and shortstop Francisco Lindor of the pennant-winning Cleveland Indians all won their first career Gold Glove Award.

Should Phillies Odubel Herrera Have Won a Gold Glove Award?

Winners of the 2015 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards were announced tonight, and no Philadelphia Phillies players were honored. 

That might be expected for a team that finished with the worst overall record in baseball – but were any of the Phils’ players overlooked in the selection process?

Voting by Major League Baseball managers and coaches makes up 75% of that selection process. However, the remaining 25% comes from the SABR Defensive Index.

The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is one of the most respected institutions in the game today, and their Defensive Index has been used for the last three seasons to help select the Gold Glove winners.

That Defensive Index from the group is compiled by the SABR Defensive Committee, currently made up of SABR President Vince Gennaro, Sean Forman of Baseball-Reference, Ben Jedlovec of Baseball Info Solutions, SABR Director F.X. Flinn, author and defensive metrics expert Chris Dial, and author Michael Humphreys.

Not only did no Phillies player win a Gold Glove, but when finalists were announced two weeks ago, none were even nominated. 

Philography: Placido Polanco

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Placido Polanco was the Phillies starting 2B and 3B at various points

An important cog in the Philadelphia Phillies lineup for 7 of the 11 seasons between 2002-2012, Placido Polanco can nonetheless be considered the hard-luck player in the Phillies decade of winning excellence to open the 21st century.

His two stints as a starter with the ball club, first in the early part of the decade when he was mostly used as the starting 2nd baseman, and then at the end as the starting 3rd baseman, sandwiched the 2008 World Series victory, of which he was not a part.

But Polanco's excellent play for the team in that long stretch cannot be overlooked. He brought steady professionalism, along with both winning play and a positive attitude. In the beginning, he helped the team realize it could compete with anyone. In the end,

Hot Corner Gold Glover

Scott Rolen is the greatest defensive 3rd baseman that I have ever seen in my lifetime.

For any real fan of baseball, and especially for those who both know me and my passion for what I regularly call "The Greatest Game That God Ever Invented", you'll know that is no small statement for me to make.

It is also a fairly controversial statement. After all, this is the town where Phillies legendary 3rd baseman and Baseball Hall of Famer Michael Jack Schmidt played for all of his nearly 18 big league seasons, and I got to see him in every one of those seasons.

It is also controversial because my lifetime takes in the majority of the career of another Baseball Hall of Famer, the legendary Baltimore Orioles 3rd sacker Brooks Robinson. During their careers, Schmitty was a 10-time Gold Glover at 3rd base, including 9 in a row from 1976-1984 and Brooks won the Gold Glove a record 16 times at the hot corner, all consecutively from 1960-1975.

In fairness, it's difficult for me to comment on any first-hand witnessing of Robinson's greatness. I didn't really begin following baseball until the 1970 season when I was 8 years old and Brooks was playing at age 33 in his 15th MLB season. Even after that, in those pre-cable TV days the only time I got to see him was on the occasional Game of the Week or other national TV broadcast such as the All-Star Game or the playoffs. I will toss in this caveat, that my pick Rolen has a ways to go to match the number of Gold Gloves won by Brooks Robinson.

I did get to watch Mike Schmidt's entire career here in Philly. I was 10 years old when he broke in for a September 1972 call-up, and 27 years old when he retired early in the 1989 season. I probably saw Schmitty play in more than a hundred games at Veteran's Stadium over the years, and in hundreds more on television. He was incredible at the hot corner, a human vacuum cleaner with a cannon for an arm, tremendous instincts, and uncommon athleticism. He could charge a slow roller and make the bare-handed pickup and throw in one motion play as well as anyone who ever played the game.

My opinion on Rolen is no knock on Schmitty, who in my books is simply edged out just slightly, and who comes in 2nd out of the hundreds that I have seen play 3rd base.