“Put me in coach, I’m ready to play today. Put me in coach, I’m ready to play today. Look at me, I can be center field.” — John Fogerty
Center field and shortstop are the ultimate positions in baseball. Heck, Fogerty’s effort wasn’t the only song reference to center field. You have “Willie, Mickey, and the Duke” and Simon and Garfunkel’s ode to Joe DiMaggio in Mrs. Robinson. So, obviously there is a lot of attention paid to those guys.
Rawlings gives them more than their fair share of attention as two and three center fielders usually pull in the Gold Gloves every season. That being said, there are enough worthy candidates to give out two or three awards per league. You could certainly argue that center fielders are considerably more valuable than right and left fielders.
| Team | INN | +/- | RS | UZR/150 | DWAR | |
| Matt Kemp | Dodgers | 1380 | -6 | 1 | -4.7 | 1.0 |
| Chris Young | Dbacks | 1373 | 13 | 6 | 12.9 | 1.8 |
| Michael Bourn | 2 Teams | 1359 | -1 | -1 | -6.2 | 1.4 |
| Jacoby Ellsbury | Red Sox | 1358 | 14 | 6 | 15.7 | 0.4 |
| Andrew McCutchen | Pirates | 1353 | 11 | 7 | 3.3 | 0.7 |
| Curtis Granderson | Yankees | 1348 | -34 | -15 | -5.3 | -0.2 |
| Drew Stubbs | Reds | 1329 | -16 | -4 | -2.2 | -1.0 |
| B.J. Upton | Rays | 1326 | -10 | -5 | 1.6 | 0.0 |
| Adam Jones | Orioles | 1281 | -35 | -9 | -8.5 | -1.7 |
| Peter Bourjos | Angels | 1269 | 24 | 21 | 8.1 | 1.4 |
| Melky Cabrera | Royals | 1265 | -8 | -3 | -9.7 | -1.9 |
| Austin Jackson | Tigers | 1264 | 30 | 22 | 8.0 | 0.7 |
| Alex Rios | White Sox | 1230 | -13 | -7 | -7.4 | -0.5 |
| Cameron Maybin | Padres | 1173 | 19 | 12 | 11.6 | 0.1 |
| Shane Victorino | Phillies | 1150 | -1 | 1 | 5.7 | 0.5 |
| Coco Crisp | Athletics | 1134 | 2 | 0 | -6.7 | -0.1 |
| Colby Rasmus | 2 Teams | 1092 | 0 | 1 | -10.7 | -0.7 |
| Dexter Fowler | Rockies | 1072 | -3 | -4 | -6.8 | -1.3 |
| Angel Pagan | Mets | 1045 | 1 | 1 | -16.1 | -1.7 |
| Marlon Byrd | Cubs | 998 | -8 | -2 | 3.0 | 0.2 |
| Jon Jay | Cardinals | 989 | 24 | 14 | -0.7 | -0.4 |
| Rick Ankiel | Nationals | 845 | 12 | 6 | 8.5 | 1.7 |
American League
The American League race is a battle royale between Peter Bourjos and Austin Jackson. They are nearly identical in every category. They played almost the exact same number of innings, early nearly the same number of ultimate zone runs and almost the same number of runs saved according to the Fielding Bible data. Now, you can see the thinking of those that want to give it to more than one center fielder.
Sabermetric Gold Glove: Peter Bourjos (LA Angels)
The DWAR is the separating factor because the other two categories are a dead heat. Bourjos had a big lead in August, but the presence of Mike Trout reduced his playing time just enough to allow Jackson to catch up. However, Jackson will win the consolation prize of his own Gold Glove.
Actual Gold Gloves: Peter Bourjos and Austin Jackson (Detroit Tigers)
Okay, I’m holding out hope that both guys will be rewarded for terrific play and then Brett Gardner will get the third trophy. If you were to give it to the three best outfielders then those would be the guys. Typically, the voters do a lot better when picking outfielders than when they pick infielders, so this actually has a decent chance of being the result.
Worst Glove: Curtis Granderson (New York Yankees)
It’s sad that the Yankees have Granderson and Gardner together as they almost end up canceling each other out. As it turns out, Gardner has to poach on Granderson’s territory to cover for his lack of range. It makes you wonder what would happen if they switched the two. I guess we will probably never know.
National League
This is a league where the voters have their guys and those guys will probably be the winners again. Unfortunately, those guys aren’t necessarily the best fielders at the position this year. Of course, you have heard that one before and you will hear it again. It’s a big theme with the Gold Glove voting.
Sabermetric Gold Glove: Cameron Maybin (San Diego Padres)
This one was brutally close as Maybin and Chris Young both dominated their own categories. Maybin was better in the Fielding Bible data while Young took him to school on DWAR. The two were close on UZR, so I simply went with a personal presence. I like John Dewan’s Fielding Bible, so I chose Maybin. One could just as easily go with Young.
Actual Gold Gloves: Michael Bourn (Atlanta Braves), Shane Victorino (Philadelphia Phillies)
Again, what guys did in the past really shouldn’t matter. I love watching Michael Bourn play and I’m sure he will bounce back, but he just didn’t get to as many balls this year as he has in the past. As for Victorino, he is certainly solid, but he has never been a great fielder. I’m not quite sure where the mystique comes from.
Worst Glove: Drew Stubbs (Cincinnati Reds)
Baseball-reference actually likes Stubbs, so take this one for what it is worth. There are few bad center fielders in the National League. If we were going to break all rules we would put Adam Jones here because Granderson deserves some company.
