Brantley, Gomes finalists for AL Gold Glove awards

Duo are hoping to bring the first Gold Glove back to Cleveland since 2008

Rawlings announced three finalists at each position for their annual Gold Glove awards on Thursday. The full list can be found here. Considering how fantastically horrible the Cleveland Indians’ defense was this year, you would think this announcement would be completely ignored in Northeast Ohio, but the club had two players sneak into contention as finalists: left fielder Michael Brantley and catcher Yan Gomes.

Sep 21, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Cleveland Indians catcher Yan Gomes (10) looks to the dugout against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

Brantley is going up against Gold Glove veteran Alex Gordon of the Kansas City Royals and Yoenis Cespedes of the Boston Red Sox. Dr. Smooth played 107 games in left field as well as 46 in center, which may or may not hurt his chances. He committed a grand total of one error all season, resulting in a pristine fielding percentage of .996. The advanced defensive metrics are not as kind to Brantley, as his UZR of -5.3 is well below Gordon’s 25.0. The Royals left fielder has also won Gold Gloves in each of the past three years.

Gomes had a fantastic second-half defensively, but early errors might hurt his chances at winning the award. He is competing against Alex Avila of the Detroit Tigers and Salvador Perez of the Royals. Gomes threw out 27 of 93 runners that attempted to steal on him (29%), good for second in the league behind New York Yankees catcher Brian McCann. This group lacks the juggernaut that Gordon is in left field, but his teammate Perez did bring home his first Gold Glove last year.

The last Cleveland Indians Gold Glove winner was Grady Sizemore in 2008. Sandy Alomar, who won the award in 1990, is the last catcher to bring home the hardware for the Tribe.