Royals center fielder Michael A. Taylor up for a second consecutive Gold Glove Award
Kansas City Royals center fielder Michael A. Taylor broke through with his first Gold Glove Award last season, and he’s among the American League finalists again this year.
Taylor was the lone current Royals player to be named a finalist for a Gold Glove. Former Royals Andrew Benintendi and Whit Merrifield are also finalists for the honors, in left field and as a utility player, respectively.
This was the first season a Gold Glove will be awarded for utility defender.
Taylor, 31, has now been a finalist three times, including last year, when he won the AL Gold Glove. His previous time as a finalist came in the National League while he was with the Washington Nationals.
This season, Taylor played in 124 games and posted a .990 fielding percentage as well as 19 defensive runs saved. He tied the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Daulton Varsho for the highest defensive runs saved total among all qualified MLB outfielders this season.
He amassed the third-most outfield assists among major-league center fielders (eight), and his average throwing velocity (92 mph) also ranked third among all AL center fielders.
Taylor also had the fourth-best ultimate zone rating (UZR) and the third-best UZR per 150 games (UZR/150) of any outfielder in the majors. He was also one of just four AL center fielders to log at least 1,000 innings this season.
Perhaps Taylor’s highest-profile defensive play came early in May, when he went up the wall at Busch Stadium and stole a home run from St. Louis Cardinals catcher Andrew Knizner in support of Royals pitcher Zack Greinke during a one-run game.
The Gold Glove winners will be announced during a one-hour “Baseball Tonight” ESPN broadcast on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 4 p.m. Central Time.
Benintendi, who won a Gold Glove with the Royals last season, played 93 of his 126 games this season with KC. He was traded to the New York Yankees in July, before the MLB Trade deadline.
Merrifield, a finalist last season for the second base Gold Glove, played 95 of his 139 games this season with the Royals. He started games for the Royals at second base (54 games), right field (30) and center field (six).
The Royals traded Merrifield to the Toronto Blue Jays in the final hour before this year’s trade deadline.
The voting body for the Gold Glove Awards includes each team’s manager and up to six coaches on his staff. They vote from a pool of qualified players in their league, and they cannot vote for players from their own team.
Since 2013, Rawlings has added the SABR Defensive Index to the process, which accounts for approximately 25% of the overall selection total.
