A Rawlings Gold Glove is just a new accessory for what Braves fans already know: Andrelton Simmons is the best shortstop in the National League.
The validation was made official Tuesday night, when the Braves’ dynamic young shortstop won his first Gold Glove in his first full season in the major leagues.
Simmons, 24, beat out Rockies veteran Troy Tulowitzki, who won back-to-back Gold Gloves in 2010-11, and the Nationals’ Ian Desmond.
“It’s an honor,” Simmons said in an interview during the ESPN2 broadcast. “Always been praised growing up, but to do it in the biggest stage is the biggest of honors.”
Jason Heyward was one of three finalists among National League right fielders, but he lost to Arizona’s Gerardo Parra. Heyward, who won his first Gold Glove last season, was attempting to become the Braves’ first repeat winner since center fielder Andruw Jones won 10 consecutive from 1998-2007.
Simmons’ defensive metrics made him a slam-dunk winner. He set a record by saving 41 runs this season, matching the highest total since Fielding Bible statisticians began keeping track of defensive runs saved in 2003. Simmons was equaled in that category by Parra, who saved 36 runs in right field, four in center and one in left. Simmons also set a single-season record for defensive WAR, according to Baseball-Reference.com. His 5.4 rating matched the highest posted since Terry Turner’s 5.4 in 1906 for the Cleveland Naps.
Simmons’ Braves teammates don’t need metrics to understand what sets him apart. Catcher Gerald Laird, a veteran of four teams and 11 major league seasons, calls Simmons the best shortstop he’s ever played with.
“It’s almost art, watching it,” Laird has said. “The things Simmons can do, it’s just special to watch.”
Braves first-base coach Terry Pendleton, and former third baseman, talks about Simmons in the same breath as “The Wizard” Ozzie Smith, the 13-time Gold Glove award winner and Pendleton’s former teammate with the St. Louis Cardinals.
“They can change a game with their glove, ” Pendleton said of Smith and Simmons. “They’ll do things instinctively that others won’t.”
Pendleton is quick to point out that Smith did it for nearly 20 years, and Simmons is in only his second season in the majors. But many predict this will be the first of many Gold Glove awards for Simmons.
The awards are voted on by managers and up to six coaches from each team, who can’t vote for players on their own teams. For the first time in 57 years, a sabermetric statistical component was figured in as well, accounting for one-fourth of the total.
Note: Braves minor league pitching coordinator Dave Wallace has been hired as Baltimore's new pitching coach, the Orioles announced Tuesday. Wallace, a former pitching coach for the Astros, Red Sox, Dodgers and Mets, has spent four years in the Braves organization as minor league pitching coordinator.
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