Rawlings announced this week that they will add a tenth Gold Glove Award in each league, and give that to the best utility player in each circuit – a move made as a result of more and more versatile players playing multiple positions throughout the year.
That’s good news for some – like, perhaps, the Mets’ Luis Guillorme, who received a Gold Glove recommendation from pitcher Chris Bassitt earlier this year and has played significant innings at three different positions and is in the Top 15 percent in Outs Above Average overall.
Even an old school guy like Buck Showalter would agree, as he said Tuesday that he’s happy that Rawlings finally decided to recognize one of the hardest yet most underappreciated jobs in baseball.
“It’s a great idea, a great recognition,” Buck said. “It’s a great recognition, and utility players should be on the All-Star team, too. Try winning without them. Utility is a position, and t’s allowed us to do a lot of things some other clubs can’t do, without a drop off in play while we get some other guys off their feet.”
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As for Guillorme’s case?
“In fairness, everybody will have somebody they tout, but I can’t imagine him not being in the top of that discussion,” Buck said, waiting for a second to try to think of other candidates before saying, “Okay, I guess Luis wins.”
That all said, though, Buck doesn’t really understand what the new “position” will be called or how they will consider it – or if they can even do it the same way a regular position players becomes eligible, by playing at least 713 innings through his team’s 141st game.
“If you’re a utility guy, you’re not necessarily playing every day, how can they dictate it by innings?” he asked incredulously. “Think about it: you’re a utility infielder because you’re versatile. I know there has to be some minimum, but what is it?”
Guillorme has played 649 2/3 innings in the field this season (more than two-thirds at third base), so as the Mets have played 142 games, he would not be eligible if the same criteria was used.
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