San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
MACHADO’S GLOVE WORK AT THIRD DESERVES GOLDEN RECOGNITION
Watch Padres third baseman Manny Machado play defense on a daily basis and questions flow like water gushing from a wide-open hydrant. How did he do that? How did he do that?
How in the name of Ozzie Smith did he do that?
The man with perhaps the best internal clock in baseball, who glides more than runs, represents a quietly rolling stream at a position filled with waves crashing into rocky shorelines.
When the baseball is in play, Machado does not get caught off guard. He does not double-clutch. He does not rush. He does not panic. The 29-year-old slows down a game where balls fly toward him at 100 mph and beyond.
Third base is the storm. Machado is the calm.
So, as he faces a former team in the Dodgers this weekend at Petco Park, one more question lingers. Why hasn’t Machado, a two-time Gold Glove winner in the American League with the Orioles and a three-time Top 5 MVP vote getter, collected one in the National League?
“I guess I’ve got to play better and be way out of the water to win one,” Machado said this week, with a wry grin. “I thought right field (in the shift last season) might help a little bit, having two positions. That didn’t work, either.”
The answer to most is clear-cut: Nolan Arenado, the current Cardinal who has won nine straight at third, stands in the way.
Could 2022 be the season Machado leapfrogs the man now considered the, well, gold standard? Arenado owns slight edges in career defensive wins above replacement (dwar, 16.6-14.1), Top 10 dwar seasons (6-4) and career fielding percentage (.972-.969).
Since 2021, however, Machado entered the weekend leading Arenado in runs saved (10-7), according to The Fielding Bible. Early in 2022, Machado sits higher in Statcast’s outs above average and ESPN’S dwar.
Is a gap being closed? Should there be a perceived gap, at all?
A Padres teammate advanced a
theory.
“The way Manny makes it look so natural, it’s almost like he makes the position boring,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said. “You see a lot of spectacular plays, but maybe some don’t see it because he makes it look so easy.
“He’s the best in the game over there. I think it’s handsdown. I know there’s a lot of really good third basemen. But to me, just the eye test, I don’t see anybody that really can hold anything to Manny over there.”
Asked if his smooth glove work seems less flashy than other players making the same play on the same ball, Machado paused.
“I guess,” Machado said. “I mean, I’m not going to change, I’ll tell you that. I’m going to continue to be me.”
Someone with an upclose perspective on both players is Mike Shildt, the Padres’ third-base coach to start the season who managed Arenado with the Cardinals in 2021.
What makes Machado special?
“He’s a baseball player who slows the game down, but still plays fast,” Shildt said.
When asked if Machado should own an NL Gold Glove or three, Shildt considered the question. In fairness, it’s like asking him to pick a favorite child.
“In a vacuum, yes he should,” Shildt said of Machado. “Both are special, generational talents. With Manny, you go ‘Holy …’ a lot.’ ”
Arenado surely benefits from award-winning inertia, scooping up gold in each of his big-league seasons. It’s fair, too, to wonder about the popularity pros and cons of
both players.
It’s impossible not to recognize Arenado’s immense ability. Every season, though?
The too-smooth line of thinking cropped up at another Padres locker.
“The game’s always going to speed up on you, but to me it doesn’t look like it does to him too much,” said second baseman Jake Cronenworth, with a laugh. “He’s always calm, cool and collected. No matter the situation, no matter the runner, no matter how hard the ball’s hit, he’s under control, always.”
MLB Network host Matt Vasgersian, a former playby-play announcer for the Padres who fills the same role with the Angels, shot down the existence of a defensive difference at all.
“I think it’s zero, in terms of public opinion,” Vasgersian said. “I don’t think anyone nationally sees a plus-minus with either of
those guys as being significant. I really don’t.
“They’ve ruined our calibrations on what is expected. We take that for granted.”
The broadcaster turned back the clock more than three decades to pinpoint a similar situation.
“Count the roadblock that is Arenado, it’s like the 1980s (and early-90s), when Ozzie was in front of Barry Larkin all those years,” Vasgersian said. “Larkin was a spectacular defender. If not for Ozzie, Larkin would have a room full of Gold Gloves.”
Vasgersian does not dismiss Machado’s smoothoperating ways, either.
“Robinson Cano looked that way as a defender a lot of times,” he said. “Almost like he didn’t give a (rip). He was tremendous.”
Infield mate Hosmer marvels at Machado’s complex calculus.
“A lot of it’s pre-pitch setup,” Hosmer said. “He knows who’s running, he knows who’s in the box. He just has so much repetition over there. It’s almost like each ball that’s hit, he’s had that ball before. Whenever he has a certain ball, it kind of saves in his head like a memory bank.”
Shortstop Ha-seong Kim said he was wow’d from Day 1.
“I told my translator the first time I saw Manny, he makes everything look easy,” Kim said via Leo Bae, the man he told. “He’s the best defender in the National League. Obviously, Nolan’s a top, elite defender. But I see Manny every day. He definitely deserves a Gold Glove.
“He makes tough plays look smooth as silk. Everything that goes to his area, it’s caught. I know he’s going to make the play.”
Machado credits his defense to treating every pregame ball as if it’s a live, in-game situation. As a younger player, he learned to embrace that approach through mentors like former Orioles teammate J.J. Hardy.
“Maybe the perception of it is that it’s easy,” Machado said. “That’s why I always get asked, ‘How do you make it look so easy?’ That’s just how I play. My internal clock is very slow and I slow things down.”
If Arenado keeps dominating the award, Machado said he will judge his defensive legacy in a simpler way.
“If I can hit Hos every single time in the chest, that’s a win for me and that’s my Gold Glove right there,” he said.
Arenado deserves a pile of NL Gold Gloves, without a doubt.
Someone else has earned a few, too.
bryce.miller@sduniontribune.com