ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Rawlings announced Tuesday the finalists for Gold Gloves in the National League and American League and among the finalists in the National League were three St. Louis Cardinals.
Shortstop Masyn Winn, third baseman Nolan Arenado and utility player Brendan Donovan were each named finalists for Gold Gloves at their respective positions. For Winn, it marks his first Gold Glove nomination, while for Arenado and Donovan, they will look to add a 11th Gold Glove and second Gold Glove in their careers respectively.
Winn, who came into the season with a strong defensive reputation, showcased his defensive ability plenty of times this past season. Overall, Winn posted a defensive runs saved (DRS) of 14, which was the best in all of baseball, but yet in outs above average, it was more critical of him, with Winn only posting a OAA of 3, which was right around middle of the pack among shortstops, but still defensively strong with Winn being placed in the 83rd percentile.
Winn will look claim his first Gold Glove and will do so against Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, who was the overall league leader in OAA with 18 and Colorado Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, who posted a OAA of 15, which was top-five among all shortstops.
Arenado, while he struggled at the plate this past season, his struggles did not affect him defensively. Arenado was not quite his super-generational defensive self in 2024, but he was still pretty elite. Arenado's 9 outs above average (OAA) was third-best in the entire sport and a DRS of 6 was fourth-best in the National League. Both San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman and Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Joey Ortiz were ahead of Arenado in both defensive metrics, while Colorado Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon is ahead of him in DRS.
Both McMahon and Chapman were also named finalists for the Gold Glove at third base in the National League alongside Arenado.
Donovan spent most of the season in the outfield, particularly left field due to a wide variety of factors that took place in the Cardinals outfield and overall he wasn't bad, posting an OAA of 1 in the outfield while posting a DRS of -1, with the latter being fifth-best in the National League among left fielders to play at least 800 innings.
One of the most notable snubs among the Rawlings Gold Glove finalists was Cardinals outfielder Michael Siani. Defensively, Siani was one of the best defenders in the entire sport, with Siani OAA of 16 in the 99th percentile tied with Colorado Rockies outfielder Brenton Doyle and only behind Washington Nationals outfielder Jacob Young in the National League, according to Baseball Savant.
The winners for the Gold Gloves will be announced on Nov. 3