Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford named a finalist for Rawlings Gold Glove award
SEATTLE – After winning his first Gold Glove award in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford showed it wasn’t a 60-game flash of brilliance by following it up with possibly an even better 2021 season.
On Thursday, Crawford was named a finalist for American League Gold Glove Award at shortstop along with Carlos Correa of the Astros and Andrelton Simmons of the Twins.
He is the only Mariners player to be represented in the Gold Glove finalists. The Mariners had hoped that Ty France would be a finalist at first base after putting in hundreds of hours of pregame with infield coach Perry “Bone” Hill to become one of the best.
But the AL finalists at first base were Yuli Gurriel of the Astros, Matt Olson of the A’s and Jared Walsh of the A’s.
“It’s an honor to be named a finalist again,” Crawford said in a news release. “Credit to Coach Bone, I wouldn’t be in this spot without him. Also gotta shout out Ty France for an incredible year at first base, picking everything over there.”
Crawford played in 160 games at shortstop in 2021, more than any other player in Major League Baseball and started 159 of those games. From May 25 to the end of the season, Crawford played in all but one game. Food poisoning forced him to miss a game on Aug. 7 in New York and limited him to late-inning duties a day later. He started the final 48 games.
Among American League players with at least 150 games played at shortstop, Crawford held a league-best .981 fielding percentage. He led American League shortstops with 222 putouts, ranked second in assists (388) and second in double plays started (88). In defensive runs saved, ranked third of the finalists with eight while Correa had 21 and Simmons had 14. In FanGraphs’ defensive WAR metric, Crawford’s 8.1 is ahead of Simmons’ 5.5 but behind Correa’s 9.6.
If Crawford wins the award, he will be the 10th player in club history to win multiple Gold Glove Awards with the Mariners. He would become the first Mariners player since Ichiro Suzuki (10 times, 2001-10) to win a Gold Glove in back-to-back years, and the first player in club history to win multiple Gold Gloves at shortstop.
Omar Vizquel (1993) was the only other Mariners shortstop to win the Gold Glove award.
The voting process is done by major league managers, and coaches vote within their league, accounting for 75% of the selection process. The other 25% is conducted by the sabermetrics community.
The Rawlings Gold Glove Awards will be announced on Nov. 7 at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight”.
2021 Rawlings Gold Glove Award finalists:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Pitcher
• José Berríos (Minnesota Twins/Toronto Blue Jays)
• Dallas Keuchel (Chicago White Sox)
• Zack Greinke (Houston Astros)
Catcher
• Martín Maldonado (Houston Astros)
• Salvador Perez (Kansas City Royals)
• Sean Murphy (Oakland Athletics)
First base
• Matt Olson (Oakland Athletics)
• Jared Walsh (Los Angeles Angels)
• Yuli Gurriel (Houston Astros)
Second base
• Whit Merrifield (Kansas City Royals)
• Marcus Semien (Toronto Blue Jays)
• David Fletcher (Los Angeles Angels)
Third base
• Matt Chapman (Oakland Athletics)
• Joey Wendle (Tampa Bay Rays)
• José Ramírez (Cleveland Indians)
Shortstop
• Andrelton Simmons (Minnesota Twins)
• J.P. Crawford (Seattle Mariners)
• Carlos Correa (Houston Astros)
Left field
• Randy Arozarena (Tampa Bay Rays)
• Andrew Benintendi (Kansas City Royals)
• Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays)
Center field
• Myles Straw (Houston Astros/Cleveland Indians)
• Kevin Kiermaier (Tampa Bay Rays)
• Michael A. Taylor (Kansas City Royals)
Right field
• Hunter Renfroe (Boston Red Sox)
• Joey Gallo (Texas Rangers/New York Yankees)
• Kyle Tucker (Houston Astros)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Pitcher
• Max Fried (Atlanta Braves)
• Zack Wheeler (Philadelphia Phillies)
• Zach Davies (Chicago Cubs)
Catcher
• Jacob Stallings (Pittsburgh Pirates)
• Yadier Molina (St. Louis Cardinals)
• J.T. Realmuto (Philadelphia Phillies)
First base
• Freddie Freeman (Atlanta Braves)
• Paul Goldschmidt (St. Louis Cardinals)
• Max Muncy (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Second base
• Tommy Edman (St. Louis Cardinals)
• Kolten Wong (Milwaukee Brewers)
• Ozzie Albies (Atlanta Braves)
Third base
• Nolan Arenado (St. Louis Cardinals)
• Ryan McMahon (Colorado Rockies)
• Manny Machado (San Diego Padres)
Shortstop
• Francisco Lindor (New York Mets)
• Kevin Newman (Pittsburgh Pirates)
• Brandon Crawford (San Francisco Giants)
Left field
• AJ Pollock (Los Angeles Dodgers)
• David Peralta (Arizona Diamondbacks)
• Tyler O’Neill (St. Louis Cardinals)
Center field
• Jackie Bradley Jr. (Milwaukee Brewers)
• Bryan Reynolds (Pittsburgh Pirates)
• Harrison Bader (St. Louis Cardinals)
Right field
• Mookie Betts (Los Angeles Dodgers)
• Mike Yastrzemski (San Francisco Giants)
• Adam Duvall (Miami Marlins/Atlanta Braves)