Presenting the Ten Winners of the Twelfth Annual Fielding Bible Awards
Arenado, Betts, Baez, Gardner, Goldschmidt, Keuchel, and Simmons Repeat (Buxton, LeMahieu, and Maldonado First Time Winners) and Gary Sanchez is Nowhere to be Found
“The name Andrelton Simmons,” says noted fielding-analyst John Dewan, Owner of Baseball Info Solutions, the organization that publishes the Fielding Bible Awards annually, “is now synonymous with the word Defense. With his 2017 Fielding Bible Award as a shortstop, that makes five years in a row: a first in the Fielding Bible Award’s 10-year history.”The Fielding Bible Awards are made each year and published in the annual Bill James Handbook, always before the Gold Gloves are announced. The Fielding Bible Awards differ from the Gold Gloves in that they give only one award for each of the fielding positions, regardless of whether the best fielder was in the American League or the National League (or sometime, as in 2009, when Jack Wilson won at shortstop despite playing in both leagues in the same season). For the last four years, an award has also been given for the best-fielding multi-position player, making a total of 10 awards per year.
Besides Simmons, the slick-fielding shortstop now with the Angels, there are six other repeat award winners this year. Dallas Keuchel of the Astros (P) wins his fourth award, all in a row. Nolan Arenado of the Rockies (3B) has now won three in a row. Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks (1B) also has three (although he seems to do so every other year). Brett Gardner of the Yankees (LF) gets his third, but his last one was six years ago. Mookie Betts of the Red Sox (RF) and Javy Baez of the Cubs (Multi-Position) repeat from last year. The three first-time winners are DJ LeMahieu of the Rockies (2B), Byron Buxton of the Twins (CF), and Martin Maldonado of the Angels (C). American Leagues players won six spots and National Leagues players won four.
Here's a short refresher course on how the Fielding Bible Awards are determined, which differs from the Gold Glove voting. Baseball Info Solutions asks a panel of twelve experts to rank ten players at each position, regardless of the team or league they played for during the year, on a scale from 1-10. They then use the same scoring technique as the Major League Baseball MVP voting: A first place vote gets 10 points, second place 9 points, third place 8 points, etc. Total up the points for each player and the player with the most points wins the award. It’s that simple and that transparent. A perfect score is 120.
For further information on this year’s voting or previous-year winners, go to www.FieldingBible.com
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