Cincinnati Reds left fielder Adam Duvall deserves Gold Glove

After narrowly missing the award in 2016, Adam Duvall deserves a Gold Glove as left fielder of the Cincinnati Reds in 2017.

Adam Duvall and Billy Hamilton were both Gold Glove finalists for the Cincinnati Reds last season.  Neither player won.  Hamilton lost due to injury and Duvall lost due to reputation.

This year, Duvall’s greatest competition will come from Marcell Ozuna of the Miami Marlins.  Only nine players qualified as left fielders in MLB this season and three in the National League.  The third NL contender would be Kyle Schwarber, if he were even so much as competent playing the outfield.

Ozuna has both a higher range factor and a higher fielding percentage than Duvall.  He is also a former center fielder with a good reputation.  Ozuna also played about sixty more innings this season.

Duvall, on the other hand, had 15 assists compared to 10 for Ozuna.  Duvall was one of only six left fielders in all of baseball credited with a double play in 2017.  Perhaps most impressively, Duvall was third in all of MLB in total putouts by left fielders.

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Ozuna and Duvall played like a pair of ironmen in left field this season.  The only left fielder in all of baseball to start more than 135 games besides the pair was Justin Upton in the American League.  Ozuna and Duvall truly set themselves apart from the rest of the defenders.

In 2016 the Cincinnati Reds should have had two Gold Glove winners, but neither pulled it off.

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Duvall’s 2016 season was actually better than his 2017 season defensively.  Duvall led all full-time left fielders in range factor.  In fact, the only left fielder in 2016 with a range factor over 2.0 in all of baseball was Duvall.

Duvall also led all of MLB in putouts among left fielders  with 270.  Second place in the NL was Angel Pagan of the San Francisco Giants.  A familiar name was first in the AL in Upton of the Detroit Tigers with 253.

Among center fielders, Hamilton was second in the NL and fourth in MLB in range factor last season.

He was behind the Gold Glove winning Ender Inciarte.  Injuries cost Hamilton, just like it does with the stolen base crown, as he had nearly fifty fewer putouts than Inciarte of the Atlanta Braves.  Hamilton may even be behind Juan Lagares of the New York Mets, who usually doesn’t qualify because of playing time.

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Yes, the Reds’ pitchers do give up a few more flyballs, but what Duvall has done in transitioning from first base to left field is quite impressive.  Remember, he played left field full-time for the first time in 2015.  Right now, his defense alone is making the Mike Leake deal look like a win for the Reds.