2014 MLB Gold Glove Winners

For most, having an airtight defense can lead to a very successful season. Defense wins championships, its a known fact around sports. Some teams have great all around defenses. Others have only certain players who excel at the defensive aspect of the game. That's where this award comes into play. Each year, the Rawlings Gold Glove award is presented to the best defensive players in the game at each position. Who wins the award each year is decided on by managers and coaches in each league.

Some people have criticized the selection process for Gold Glove winners. A few critics have said that the selection process should be made based on statistical analysis along with the opinion of the voters rather than having the winners be selected by managers and coaches that may have seen a player as few as six times during the season. Some have thought that winning the award has become a popularity contest for the Gold Glove rather than being an award based on talent. What started that theory, which is a valid argument, was Rafael Palmeiro winning in 1999 with the Texas Rangers. That season, he only appeared in 28 games as a first baseman, playing the other 128 games as a designated hitter that season. To help eliminate some of that controversy, in 2013, Rawlings collaborated on the Gold Glove Award with SABR, who provided the SABR Defensive Index to add a sabermetric component to the selection process.

So with all that being said, the votes have been tallied and here are your 2014 Major League Baseball Gold Glove Awards Winners!

American League:
1st Base: Eric Hosmer, Kansas City Royals
2nd Base: Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
3rd Base: Kyle Seager, Seattle Mariners
Shortstop: J.J. Hardy Baltimore Orioles
Left Field: Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals
Center Field: Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles
Right Field: Nick Markakis, Baltimore Orioles
Catcher: Salvador Pérez, Kansas City Royals
Pitcher: Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros

National League:
1st Base: Adrian Gonzalez, Los Angeles Dodgers
2nd Base: DJ LeMahieu, Colorado Rockies
3rd Base: Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies
Shortstop: Andrelton Simmons, Atlanta Braves
Left Field: Christian Yelich, Miami Marlins
Center Field: Juan Lagares, New York Mets
Right Field: Jason Heyward, Atlanta Braves
Catcher: Yadier Molina, St Louis Cardinals
Pitcher: Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers

So there you have the winners. This now begs the question of did the voters get it right in selecting their Gold Glove winners this season? The answer, as a whole, has to be a yes. For a guy to win an award like this, to me at least, there play in the field should be good enough to be able to save runs. Six of this years winners led the majors in Defensive Runs Saved: Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel, Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons and outfielders Alex Gordon of the Royals, Juan Lagares of the Mets and Jason Heyward of the Braves. That speaks volumes as to how well these guys played in the field this season.

One of the biggest surprises to win a Gold Glove this year was Kyle Seager of the Seattle Mariners, as he beat out division rivals Josh Donaldson of the Athletics and Adrian Beltre of the Rangers to win his first Gold Glove Award. Sure, Donaldson led third basemen with 20 Defensive Runs Saved, twice as many as Seager. But Seager was cited for his overall defensive improvement. He went from minus-7 and minus-8 Defensive Runs Saved at the position the previous two seasons to 10 Defensive Runs Saved there in 2014. He’s the first Mariners third baseman to win one since Beltre did in 2008.

All in all, I would say the voters got it right in picking the Gold Glove winners for the 2014 Major League Baseball season!