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Rawlings Sports announced the finalists for their Gold Glove Awards on Thursday, and both Adam Duvall and Billy Hamilton were included at their respective positions. Duvall was named a finalist for National League LF, while Hamilton was included among the National League CF finalists.
#Rawlings #GoldGlove Award Finalists – NL LF – @Marlins @ChristianYelich, @Reds @ADuvall123, @Pirates @Starlingmart
— Rawlings Sports (@RawlingsSports) October 27, 2016
#Rawlings #GoldGlove Award Finalists – NL CF – @Reds @BillyHamilton , @Phillies @OdubelHerrera1, @Braves Ender Inciarte / @Enderdavid18
— Rawlings Sports (@RawlingsSports) October 27, 2016
Gold Glove Awards aren't exactly the greatest measure of a player's individual defense, of course. That FanGraphs and Baseball Reference include positional adjustments in their WAR valuations spells that out mathematically, but intuitively it makes sense to assume that the second or third best CF in each league would make for the best LF should they have been tasked with such a position. They've also been notorious for anointing winners based at least in part because of their offensive reputations, which is how Rafael Palmeiro famously won a 1999 AL 1B Gold Glove despite making 128 starts as the DH and just 28 at 1B. Still, it's hard these days for players who aren't at least semi-qualified to sneak into being a finalist, and both Duvall and Hamilton are worthy at their respective positions.
Duvall made 137 starts in LF in 2016 after having made just 15 career starts there in his career prior to this season, but the thumper who was once considered positionless made the most of his glovework while there. BBRef valued him at 1.0 dWAR, he graded out having saved 4.4 defensive runs according to FanGraphs, and both his UZR (9.2) and UZR/150 (9.6) were among the best in the league. That UZR/150 mark ranked 11th among the 65 MLB OFs who played at least 800 innings in 2016, for instance.
Hamilton, on the other hand, entered 2016 with an already glowing reputation defensively. I'd list all the numbers and metrics that agree wholeheartedly, but that'd be a waste of time when this here video does all the talking I don't need to provide:
That's Gold Glove worthy even if he spent the other 161 games eating popsicles in pajamas in CF.
Congrats to both, and here's to hoping they both take home the awards at their respective positions.