On Tuesday, the finalists at every position for the 2024 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards were announced, and surprising to anyone who follows the Washington Nationals is that centerfielder Jacob Young was one of the finalists named.
Young, who experienced his first taste of being a full time big leaguer this season, was absolutely phenomenal all season long on the defensive side in center field for the Nationals. Between some fantastic highlight plays and making all of the tough plays seem almost routine, any time a ball was hit to center field it almost felt like a miracle if it hit the ground.
As for the other finalists for center field in the National League? That would be Brenton Doyle from the Colorado Rockies and Blake Perkins from the Milwaukee Brewers. A fun fact pointed out by Talk Nats on X, is that all 3 of these players have ties to the Nationals, albeit in different forms. We all know Young was drafted by the Nationals out of the University of Florida and shot through the minors in large part due to his defense and base running.
Doyle, who just finished his second season as a big leaguer with the Rockies, is originally from Warrenton, VA and grew up a fan of the Nationals, with his favorite player being Ryan Zimmerman. Perkins, who has been with a couple of organizations now, was actually a 2nd-round draft pick of the Nats back in 2015, turning down his scholarship from Arizona State University to sign with the team, and even peaked just outside the Top 10 of the Team's Top 30 Prospects list during his tenure with the Nationals organization.
As for who should be expected to win? I obviously would love to say Young, but there is definitely a very legitimate case to build for all 3 of these players. With these awards, it seems like it's too hard to predict nowadays, as back in 2019 I would have probably bet everything I owned that Victor Robles would have won the award, but of course he shockingly missed out on the chance to claim his first Gold Glove to Lorenzo Cain from the Brewers.
Player | Innings | Outfield Assists | Outs Above Average (OAA) | Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) | FRV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Young, WSH | 1251.2 | 5 | 20 | 11 | 16 |
Doyle, COL | 1242.2 | 8 | 16 | 11 | 15 |
Perkins, MIL | 956.1 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 9 |
As you can see from the table I made above that includes some key statistics that are likely to be accounted for when it comes to voting, Young definitely leads in important categories of OAA and FRV, which stands for Statcast Fielding Run Value in runs above average, which is basically a metric that is used to measure a player's defensive performance on a run-based scale. Additionally, Young led the entire MLB in runs prevented as well with 18, even further reason he should be the winner here.
2019 Player | Innings | Outfield Assists | OAA | DRS | FRV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Robles, WSH | 1199.0 | 12 | 21 | 23 | 24 |
Cain, MIL | 1177.1 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 10 |
I just had to go back and take a look at the 2019 Gold Glove race to see how much of a travesty it was that Robles didn't win the Gold Glove over Lorenzo Cain, and the disparity of the numbers ended up being much worse than I remembered! I only bring this up as if Young were to lose, it wouldn't be the first time that the Nationals were robbed of a Gold Glove Winner. However, if he were to win, he would become just the third Gold Glove recipient since the Nationals became established, joining Ryan Zimmerman in 2009 and Adam LaRoche in 2012.
kid’s getting golder 💛 pic.twitter.com/aK38nzHX8Z
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) October 15, 2024
Do you think Jacob Young will win the Gold Glove? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.