Bradley Jr. seizes Golden opportunity
Takes home 1st award as premier CF
The wait is done for Jackie Bradley Jr.
The managers, coaches and defensive metrics combined to elect Bradley the 2018 American League Gold Glove Award winner in center field. Bradley edged Mike Trout and Adam Engel in results announced last night.
It’s Bradley’s first Gold Glove in his sixth big league season, though in two of those years, he appeared in fewer than 75 games.
The entire Red Sox starting outfield was nominated for Gold Gloves this year. Only Bradley and Mookie Betts were victorious.
While Red Sox pitchers and coaches have long been saying Bradley is the best center fielder in baseball, the defensive statistics haven’t always agreed.
According to the SABR Defensive Index, which counts for 25 percent of the weight in Gold Glove calculations (with the other 75 percent coming from the voting by managers and coaches), Bradley ranked fourth at 4.3 as of the latest release on Aug. 19.
Last year, Bradley ranked eighth with zero SDI. In 2016, he ranked seventh with minus-1.2 SDI, worse than Jacoby Ellsbury.
But the Red Sox felt the numbers weren’t an accurate representation of Bradley’s ability. And while he appeared to have a down year on defense in 2017, when he was often getting to the hard-hit balls but failing to complete the catch, there was no questioning his performance in 2018.
Aside from some accuracy issues on throws to home and a memorable mistake early in the year, when he missed a diving catch that rolled behind him for an inside-the-park-homer, Bradley had a near-perfect season on defense. Some of the memorable catches: a fully-stretched out catch to snag a ball from right field against the Orioles in April, and his tumbling grab before crashing into the Green Monster against the Twins in July.
The 28-year-old is under team control through the arbitration process for two more seasons before he’s eligible for free agency.
Ian Kinsler, who was acquired mid-year for his defensive ability but made a costly error that led to the Red Sox’ only loss in the World Series, was chosen as the Gold Glove winner at second base ahead of Rougned Odor and Jed Lowrie.
Kinsler ranked second among major league second basemen with 10 defensive runs saved. He previously won the award in 2016. The 36-year-old is now a free agent.
Mitch Moreland, also a 2016 winner, was a finalist at first base but lost to Matt Olson. Moreland returns to the Red Sox for $6.5 million in 2019, the final year of his contract.
Betts, one of the best defenders in baseball at any position, won his third straight Gold Glove in right field. He ranked first among right fielders in SDI with 9.6 and fifth among all major leaguers in defensive runs saved with 20. Kole Calhoun and Aaron Judge were finalists at the position.
Andrew Benintendi earned his first career nomination in left field, though he was a long shot against Alex Gordon, who won his sixth Gold Glove.