Walls a finalist for Gold Glove
ST. PETERSBURG — Due to a series of circumstances, Taylor Walls’ playing time this past season was split somewhat equally between second base, shortstop and third base.
His overall work between the three positions was good enough to earn a spot among the top three finishers for the American League Gold Glove award for utility players.
The other finalists are Houston’s Maurico Dubon (who is also a finalist at second base) and Detroit’s Zach McKinstry. Winners are announced Nov. 5.
Walls was the only Ray honored.
Shortstop Wander Franco ranked among the leaders in several defensive metrics through mid-August, when his season ended. He was placed on the restricted list by mutual agreement and then administrative leave by Major League Baseball due to allegations of inappropriate relationships with one or more minors. He is being investigated by league and Dominican Republic authorities.
Franco was the top-rated AL player at any position through Aug. 13 in the Society for American Baseball Research Defensive Index (SDI), which is part of the Gold Glove selection process. He finished the season tied for fourth in defensive WAR, per baseball-reference. com.
A spokesperson for Rawlings, which presents the awards, did not respond Wednesday when asked if Franco was ineligible or just did not make the top three. The finalists are Minnesota’s Carlos Correa, Texas’ Corey Seager and New York’s Anthony Volpe.
The utility award was introduced last year, and the selection process is different than for the Gold Gloves at the nine positions.
Those selections are based 75% on votes by league managers and coaches among players who qualify based on innings/ games at their position, and 25% on a statistical and analytic formula called the SDI, which incorporates six data sources.
Walls made eight errors, splitting time between shortstop (32 games, 28 starts), second base (37, 33) and third base (39, 36).