Nationals outfielder Jacob Young robbed of first career Gold Glove award

Major League Baseball announced their annual Gold Glove award winners on Sunday night, and the lone finalist from the Washington Nationals, was up for his first career award in center field for the National League. After being named a finalist on October 15th, many, including myself, figured that Jacob Young would be in line to take home the award over fellow candidates Brenton Doyle from the Colorado Rockies, and Blake Perkins from the Milwaukee Brewers.

However, as the awards were presented and as the title of this blog gives away, Young was robbed of the honor, with the award instead going to Doyle. While between the 3 candidates, Doyle was the only one was comparable to Young, I will say that Young definitely deserved the nod in this case. Despite being tied for the MLB lead in Outs Above Average (OAA), innings played, and being tied with Doyle in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), the voters of the award believed that Doyle, who had the edge over Young in outfield assists among notable defensive metrics, was better served to take home his second straight Gold Glove award.

I did say in my piece back on October 16th that if Young were to lose the award, it would not be the first time that a Nationals center fielder was robbed, despite being the logical pick using certain statistics. If you remember back in 2019, Victor Robles was seeking to become the Nationals' 3rd ever Gold Glove award recipient as well, going up against Lorenzo Cain from the Milwaukee Brewers.

Cain would end up taking home the award in 2019 despite an unreal defensive season by Robles, and trailing significantly in most defensive categories. It appeared back then that Cain was chosen as he was a well-respected veteran in the twilight of his career, and while the snub of Young could certainly be considered egregious, it pales in comparison to the travesty of Gold Glove voting in 2019.

In case you don't remember, Robles led Cain by a wide margin in most defensive categories that season, and, despite being the starting center fielder on the World Series Champions, was somehow not picked for the award. Robles led Cain in innings played, outfield assists, OAA, DRS, and Fielding Run Value (FRV), and still got snubbed. Bottom line is, the Nationals are no strangers to having deserving players snubbed for awards, and hopefully that will be able to change in the future.

Do you agree with me that Jacob Young was wrongfully snubbed for the Gold Glove award? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.