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A trio of Pittsburgh Pirates have been named finalists for the 2021 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards.
Bryan Reynolds, who earlier this week was chosen as a Silver Slugger finalist for National League outfielders, made the grade on the defensive side of things among center fielders, as did catcher Jacob Stallings and shortstop Kevin Newman.
All have stiff competition, as one might expect, for the award, the winners of which will be announced at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 7, on ESPN.
Reynolds is joined in the center field battle by the Cardinals’ Harrison Bader and 2018 Gold Glove winner Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Brewers. Bradley won the award while playing for the Boston Red Sox.
According to David Adler of MLB.com, Reynolds finished second – to Bader – among NL center fielders with 10 Outs Above Average. Bader also led all center fielders with 15 Defensive Runs Saved while Bradley had nine.
According to MLB.com, Outs Above Average essentially shows how many outs a player has saved. For outfielders, it starts with Catch Probability and also takes into account Expected Catch Percentage, Actual Catch Percentage and Catch Percentage Added.
Stallings, a Gold Glove finalist last year when the Reds’ Tucker Barnhart won the award, is competing against two previous Gold Glove award winners, Yadier Molina of the Cardinals and J.T. Realmuto of the Phillies. Molina already has nine such awards while Realmuto won one in 2019.
Stallings leads all players – not just catchers — with 21 Defensive Runs Saved this season. That’s more than twice as many as any other catcher in the league. He did not allow a passed ball in 892 innings over 104 games behind the plate.
Newman opened the season with a streak of 76 consecutive errorless games and totaled nine Defensive Runs Saved to six for Brandon Crawford and four for Francisco Lindor, the other two shortstop finalists. Lindor led all NL shortstops with 20 Outs Above Average while Crawford had 15 and Newman three.
On the season, Newman committed just three errors in 453 chances during 132 games at shortstop totaling 1,074 1/3 innings for a fielding percentage of .993.