The Cleveland Guardians may not have finished the season they wanted to, but there were still a few parts of this team to be excited about. One of them is how good they were on defense.
Andres Gimenez was nominated for a Gold Glove Award alongside fellow Guardians Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan. The other American League second basemen up for the award are Mauricio Dubon and Marcus Semien.
With all due respect to Dubon and Semien, but Gimenez should win his second consecutive Gold Glove in a landslide. His defense at second base this season was unmatched.
Let's start with fielding run value. Gimenez's value was a 14, tied for the highest in all of baseball, while Semien's value was a 10, and Dubon's was a two. This ranking placed Gimenez in the 99th percentile of all defenders.
Another stat that Semien and Dubon didn't come close to catching Gimenez in was outs above average (OAA). Cleveland's second baseman had an OAA of 18 which was the highest in the AL among all players and third highest in all of baseball, per Baseball Savant.
Semien had an OAA od 14 and Dubon had a OAA of negative one. Yes, one of the Gold Glove finalists had negative outs above average and there were 13 other second basemen in the AL with a higher ranking. This includes his own teammate Jose Altuve.
At this point, it's hard to argue who the best defensive player is at second. The only question left to ask is, what's next?
We know that Gimenez is a generational defender but could his talent be better used elsewhere? The Guardians are trying to figure out who their future shortstop should be and maybe Gimenez is the answer. Typically, the better defender in the middle infield plays on the left side.
Either way, Cleveland is lucky to have a player such as Gimenez on their team.
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