Ian Kinsler loses out to Dustin Pedroia on Fielding Bible Award at second base
DETROIT — Ian Kinsler may have had a Gold Glove-caliber season in the estimation of his teammates and manager, but he did not have the best defensive season among second basemen, according to the Fielding Bible Awards.
Boston’s Dustin Pedroia took home the Fielding Bible Award for second base, announced Thursday.
Pedroia finished with 114 points and Kinsler 98, ahead of Birmingham Brother Rice grad D.J. LeMahieu of the Colorado Rockies. [FINAL VOTING TALLIES HERE]
The Fielding Bible Awards are voted on by a 12-member panel, and selects the best player at each position in baseball, rather than by league. This year, it selected the best multi-position player, the American League Championship Series MVP Lorenzo Cain of Kansas City, who played both center and right field.
The alternative defensive awards to the Gold Gloves — which only recently added a component of defensive metrics to the voting process, and often merely went to the “best player” — the Fielding Bible Awards have been looked at as a more accurate assessment of the best defenders in the game. They’re also closely tied with one of the main defensive metrics, Business Information Systems’ Defensive Runs Saved.
Many times, the Fielding Bible winner coincides with the best player at the position by DRS.
This time, it did not, as Kinsler ranked first in DRS (20), but second in Ultimate Zone Rating (13.0) and Total Zone Total Fielding (14) behind Pedroia.
Here are the remainder of the honorees:
First base: Adrian Gonzalez, Los Angeles Dodgers
Third base: Josh Donaldson, Oakland A’s
Shortstop: Andrelton Simmons, Atlanta Braves
Left field: Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals
Center field: Juan Lagares, New York Mets
Right field: Jason Heyward, Atlanta Braves
Catcher: Jonathan Lucroy, Milwaukee Brewers
Pitcher: Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros
The Gold Glove Awards will be announced Tuesday, Nov. 4.