Congratulations to Mark Grudzielanek for winning his first Gold Glove in his thirteen year career. Presumably, he beat out Mark Ellis and Mark Loretta, who both had great seasons in the field as well. Ellis had a slightly better fielding percentage (.997 to Grud’s .994) and a slightly higher range factor (5.30 to Grud’s 5.13), but Grudzielanek had a better zone rating (.849 to .847). And Grudzielanek had a considerably higher zone rating than Loretta (.849 to .805).
Grudzielanek led all American League second basemen with 111 double plays and he only committed four errors on the season. The only other Royals’ second baseman to win a Gold Glove was Frank White—who won eight of them.
"It really means a lot because I felt I had a shot the last few years and kind of got overlooked even though I led most of the categories," Grudzielanek is quoted as saying in an article running on the Royals’ website. "So it's nice to have the votes and have them recognize that."
2 comments:
Mark Grudzielanek had a great defensive season, but Mark Ellis got robbed.
2 Errors in 633 chances (.997) is not "slightly better" than 4 Errors in 638 chances (.994); it's twice as good.
Ellis set a record for fewest errors by a second baseman.
You wouldn't have got any complaints from me if Ellis had won the Gold Glove. He probably should have, but a .003 difference in fielding percentage is not twice as good. That's like saying the guy who hits .337 by getting two more hits on the season had a twice as good a season as the guy who hit .334. Since Ellis has a higher range factor than Grudzielanek and a higher fielding percentage, I think he should have won the Gold Glove, but Grudzielanek has had to deal with having better numbers in the past and not winning the award. Unfortunately, it happens sometimes.
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