Hechavarria’s play is nearly golden

MIAMI — Thursday afternoon brought another reminder to Don Mattingly’s office that the season’s end is near: the Gold Glove Award ballot.

Managers and coaches, whose votes account for 75 percent of the formula that determines the winners of the annual defensive honors, cannot vote for their own players. That means when Mattingly gets to filling his out, he won’t write in one of the league’s best shortstops: Adeiny Hechavarria, a Gold Glove finalist both of the past two years.

“Hech is, in my mind, a premier, premier defender at shortstop,” Mattingly said. “He’s a really good defender. Fromthe bread and-butter daily plays to making [more difficult ones], he’s a really good defender.”

Hechavarria is a human highlight reel, and he flashed the leather as recently as Wednesday against the Nationals, laying out for a diving stop to rob Anthony Rendon of a hit (before a poor flip on a would-be force at second gave Washington an extra out).

Modern defensive metrics, which account for the other 25 percent of the Gold Glove formula, back up Mattingly’s opinion and Hechavarria’s reputation — to a degree. He is among the National League leaders in a handful of categories, but not the outright leader in any of them.

In Defense Runs Saved, Hechavarria ranks third in the NL with 10, well behind the Cubs’ Addison Russell (18) andthe Giants’ Brandon Crawford (17), last year’s winner. In Ultimate Zone Rating, another statistic that attempts to measure howmany runs a defender saves relative to his position’s average, Hechavarria is at plus-9, good for fifth — behind Crawford (16.7) and Russell (14.2) again, plus the Dodgers’ Corey Seager (10.5) and Phillies’ Freddy Galvis (10.4).

Those numbers suggest that, yes, Hechavarria is a very good defensive shortstop. Just maybe not a golden one this year.

Yelich’s milestone

Christian Yelich’s 20th homer of the season on Wednesday gave the Marlins three 20-homer hitters this season, with Yelich joining fellow outfielders Giancarlo Stanton (27 through Wednesday) and Marcell Ozuna (23).

The last time a trio of Miami batters accomplished the feat? Stanton was a part of that group, too, as a 20-year-old rookie in 2010. He had 22, joining Dan Uggla (33) and Hanley Ramirez (21).

The 2016 Marlins are the first team since the 2008 Brewers to have all three primary outfielders hit at least 20 home runs.

This and that

Right-handed reliever Bryan Morris cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A New Orleans on Thursday, two days after the Marlins designated him for assignment. Morris had back surgery in June after posting a 3.06 ERA and 1.42 WHIP in 24gamesfor Miami this season.

Arnie Beyeler, who recently finished his first season as manager in New Orleans, is with the Marlins this homestand as an extra coach.