Fielding Bible Honors Atlanta Braves’ Andrelton Simmons
Apr 11, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves shortstop
Andrelton Simmons(19) is presented with his 2013 Gold and Platinum Glove awards before the game against the Washington Nationals at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports
Everyone has heard of the Rawlings’ Gold Glove Awards (shown above). But if they actually represented what they purport to be all about, then there would be no need for the Fielding Bible.
2015 represents the 10th season of the Fielding Bible Awards, and for third straight year, Andrelton Simmons has been cited by the group as their winner among major league shortstops… and note that this is not a league-by-league award: this is the overall winner for the majors.
In 2013, Simmons was a unanimous pick for the award, beating out Elvis Andrus by a whopping 120 points to 73. In 2014? Another unanimous selection, this time by a 120-105 margin over nearly-a-unanimous-second-placing Zack Cozart.
In 2015: yeah… nobody votes against Andrelton. 120-108 over Brandon Crawford, who was named at second place on every ballot. Former Braves’ farmhand Nick Ahmed of the Diamondbacks finished third this year.
The Voters
12 ballots were involved with voters ranking 10 players at each position. Here are the voters:
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- Bill James. Now working in part for the Red Sox, he’s a highly respected writer and statistical analyst.
- Dave Cameron of Fangraphs
- Doug Glanville, former major league player
- Hal Richman, the creator of Strat-o-matic baseball.
- NBC Sports National Columnist Joe Posnanski
- The Fielding Bible author John Dewan
- The video scouts from Baseball Info Solutions, also owned by John Dewan
- Mark Simon of ESPN Stats & Information
- Hall-of-Fame writer Peter Gammons
- Rob Neyer, now national baseball editor for SB Nation, formerly of ESPN.com
- The fans voting at the Tom Tango Fan Poll (tangotiger.net). Tom himself is a sabermaterics researcher, writer, and author
Other 2015 Winners
- 1st Base: Paul Goldschmidt (118 pts of 120; 10 1st place votes; 2 curve balls)
- 2nd base: Ian Kinsler (106) over Dee Gordon (94)
- 3rd base: Nolan Arenado (116) over Adrian Beltre (102)
- LF: Starling Marte (116) over Alex Gordon (99)
- CF: Kevin Kiermaier (120) over Lorenzo Cain (108)
- RF: Jason Heyward (120) over Ender Inciarte (84)
- Catchers: Buster Posey (116) over Yadier Molina (97)
- Pitchers: Dallas Keuchel (115) over Zack Greinke (107)
Other Braves Receiving Votes
- Freddie Freeman – 8
- Jace Peterson – 1
- Michael Bourn – 1
- Nick Markakis – 3
- Julio Teheran – 23 (tied for 9th)
The Rawlings awards will be handed out next week, and it’s certainly possible that Simmons won’t get one this season as voters for that award have lost sight of that fact that the trophy is a Glove and not a Bat. But for certain, the Fielding Bible team continues to represent the award for defense alone, and good on them for doing so.
Congratulations to Andrelton Simmons for his continued outstanding defensive efforts!