Cleveland Indians: Reviewing the Tribe’s three Gold Glove finalists

The finalists for the American League Gold Glove Awards were announced and three Cleveland Indians were named, but how likely are they to win?

On Thursday, Major League Baseball and Rawlings announced the three finalists at each position for the 2020 Gold Glove Awards. Of those named, the Cleveland Indians saw three players make the short list of finalists, being starting pitcher Zach Plesac, catcher Roberto Perez and second baseman Cesar Hernandez.

While the Indians have three finalists this year, they are no stranger to the Gold Glove Awards. Following the 2019 season, the Indians had two players take home Gold Gloves, ending a drought of two years with the most recent before that being Francisco Lindor in 2016. However, before last year, the last time the Indians had two award winners in the same season was in 2001 when the double play duo of Roberto Alomar and Omar Vizquel both collected hardware. The year before, in 2000, the Indians saw a trio named Gold Glove winners, also being Alomar and Vizquel who were joined by fellow infielder Travis Fryman.

The Cleveland Indians have the opportunity to see multiple players on the roster win a Gold Glove for the second consecutive season, but there’s another accolade that could be achieved. Being nominated this year after winning it last year, Roberto Perez could become the Tribe’s first back-to-back Gold Glove Award winner since Grady Sizemore in 2007 and 2008.

Being named a finalist is a great honor, receiving recognition for outstanding play in the field, but the goal is to win the award. While the Indians have three nominees, Plesac and Perez are each one of three finalists at their positions while Hernandez is one of four.

Fans of the Tribe know what the trio of finalists were able to do during the season in the field, but the short lists of finalists will be tight races at each position. It remains to be seen if the resumes of the three will be enough to win the award, so let’s take a closer look at how they stack up against the others. The winners of the Gold Glove Awards will be announced a little over a week from the time this was written, being on Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m.

Roberto Perez, Catcher

Other Finalists: Yasmani Grandal (CWS), James McCann (CWS)

As noted earlier, Roberto Perez has the chance to become the Cleveland Indians’ first back-to-back Gold Glove Award winner since Grady Sizemore in 2007 and 2008. Regarded as one of the best catchers in the game, Perez lived up to his lofty expectations in 2020.

Perez played in 32 games behind the dish, starting 30 and completing 25 to total 256 innings behind the plate for the Indians on the season. Over the span that consisted of 768 outs, Perez was perfect, not committing an error during the 2020 season, recording 291 putouts and 21 assists. He was also able to lead all of baseball for caught stealing percentage, throwing out 71% of base runners that attempted to swipe a base on his watch, throwing out 10 of the 14 attempts.

The knock on Perez is the same one as Plesac, but in a slightly different manner. While Plesac missed time from a demotion, Perez didn’t play in nearly half the season after an injury riddled campaign. However, like Plesac, Perez still lines up well against the other finalists, especially since they are both from the same team.

Splitting time as the backstop for the Chicago White Sox, both Yasmani Grandal and James McCann are finalists for the Gold Glove Award. For Grandal, he appeared in the same amount of games as Perez behind the plate at 32, totaling a few more innings a 271.1. As for McCann, he totaled 245.2 innings over 30 games, meaning all three finalists played right around half of the games for the season.

Behind the plate, Grandal had two errors for a .993 fielding percentage after having 286 chances. Of the 284 successful opportunities, 271 were putouts while 13 were assists. However, Grandal had far less success in the stealing department, catching just 46% of steal attempts. In his defense, there were only 13 attempts against him, but seven were able to slide in safely.

As for McCann, he committed four errors on the season for a .985 fielding percentage over 261 chances. In the caught stealing stat, he allowed eight stolen bases and threw out just four steal attempts for a caught stealing percentage of 33%.

On the surface, one would think that Perez’s injuries hurt his chances at the Gold Glove, but when digging deeper he actually seems like the frontrunner. Games played is very similar across the three finalists and, like Plesac, Perez was the only one to not commit an error.

Cesar Hernandez, Second Base

Other Finalists: Nicky Lopez (KC), Danny Mendick (CWS), Jonathan Schoop (DET)

Another position with all finalists being from the American League Central, Cesar Hernandez will have the stiffest competition of the three Cleveland Indians that are finalists.

During the 2020 season, Hernandez played second base in 58 games for the Tribe, starting 57 of them and finishing 54. Playing 503.2 innings at the position, Hernandez had 210 chances in the field over the course of the season. Of those chances, four resulted in an error, giving Hernandez a .981 fielding percentage. The other 206 opportunities resulted in 67 putouts and 139 assists while turning 33 double plays.

Being at a stacked group of finalists, we first look at Kansas City’s Nicky Lopez who played 53 games at second base in 2020. Totaling 424 innings at the position, Lopez committed just two errors for a fielding percentage of .991. Being a part of 34 double plays, Lopez tallied 74 putouts and 135 assists.

Next on the list is Chicago White Sox’s second baseman, Danny Mendick, who logged 28 games at second this year. Playing just 226 innings at the position, Mendick had a single error for the same fielding percentage as Lopez at .991. Turning 15 double plays, Mendick had 39 putouts and 66 assists.

The fourth and final finalist at second base is Detroit’s Jonathan Schoop. Schoop was able to appear in 44 games at second base during the 2020 season, having just one error that resulted in a .994 fielding percentage. Over 355.2 innings at second, Schoop was able to help turn 25 double plays while registering 60 putouts and 113 assists.

While Hernandez will have the hardest road to the award given the other finalists, he still has a very strong case that should receive consideration during the process that could result in another Gold Glove Award for the Cleveland Indians.