Despite being one of the top defensive teams in baseball by most metrics, the Milwaukee Brewers only had one player recognized as a finalist for the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards, and he had only been with the organization for two months.
First baseman Carlos Santana of the Milwaukee Brewers, who was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates just before the trade deadline, is one of three finalists in the National League, along with Christian Walker of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
According to Statcast, Milwaukee led all of baseball with 24 outs above average.
Santana led all first basemen in defensive runs saved, according to The Fielding Bible, with 11, two more than Walker.
Santana scored a plus-2 on Statcast’s “outs above average” metric, with Walker (plus-12) taking the top spot by a wide margin.
Only two center fielders, Carlos Gomez in 2013 and Lorenzo Cain in 2019, have won Gold Gloves for the Brewers since 1982. First baseman George Scott won five times between 1972 and 1976, second baseman Cecil Cooper won twice at the same position in 1979 and 1980, outfielder Sixto Lezcano won once in 1979, and shortstop Robin Yount won once in 1982.
On November 5, winners will be declared.