Cincinnati Reds: José Iglesias surprisingly not among Gold Glove finalists

While a lot of Cincinnati Reds fans are upset that José Iglesias is not among the finalists for a Gold Glove Award, it shouldn’t come as a shock.

José Iglesias was the best defensive player on the Cincinnati Reds roster this season, but that doesn’t mean he deserves to be a finalist for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award. While Iglesias flashed the leather often, the wizardry he displayed at shortstop didn’t translate into the many statistical categories that help decide who takes home the trophy.

Iglesias was not among the final three National League shortstops to be considered for the Gold Glove Award. Trevor Story of the Colorado Rockies, Paul DeJong of the St. Louis Cardinals and Nick Ahmed of the Arizona Diamondbacks were among the finalist in the NL. In fact, the Reds did have a single player make the list of finalists.

While fans throughout Reds Country may be bias, numbers never lie and that’s why Iglesias is not among the finalists for the award. When it comes to defense, traditional stat heads look at fielding percentage. It’s a simple compilation of putouts, assists and errors.

When you compare Iglesias’ fielding percentage to the three finalists, you’ll find that he’s right in the thick of it. DeJong leads the way with an astounding .989 fielding percentage. Story follows closely behind with a .987 fielding percentage. Iglesias (.980) actually bests Ahmed (.979) in this category, but just slightly.

However, in recent years, fielding percentage has no longer been viewed as the dominant statistic when it comes to measuring a player’s defensive ability. Plays made out of the defender’s zone (OOZ), ultimate zone rating (UZR) and plus/minus runs saved (rPM) have replaced errors, assists and putouts.

One of the most popular metrics used in today’s game is DRS or Total Defensive Runs Saved above average. According to FanGraphs, it’s a statistic that rates individual players as above or below average on defense. This category in particular is where Iglesias is left in the dust of the three finalists.

Iglesias has a very respectable 8 DRS according to FanGraphs, which is actually the highest of his career. Unfortunately for Iglesias, Nick Ahmed had 18 DRS, Trevor Story had 17 DRS and Paul DeJong had 14 DRS. For reference, 15-plus DRS is considered Gold Glove caliber defense, 10-plus DRS is great and more than five DRS is considered above-average.

So,  while a lot of Cincinnati Reds fans may not like it, there is some reasoning behind José Iglesias’ absence from the list of finalists for the Gold Glove Award. Reds fans are used to not seeing some of their favorite players receive such honors for their defensive work, as Billy Hamilton was never rewarded for his phenomenal defensive efforts while playing center field for the Reds.