The Rawlings Gold Glove finalists were announced on Friday, and Jose Trevino, Jameson Taillon, Andrew Benintendi, Anthony Rizzo, and DJ LeMahieu were the Yankees to be named among the top defenders of the season at their respective positions, with LeMahieu being named a finalist as a utility player.
Aaron Boone thought some other Yankee infielders could have been recognized, including shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
“Yeah, it's certainly been one of the strengths of this team is defense,” Boone said. “It's a priority of ours this winter and heading into this season, to get better defensively, and I think we went out there and did that. The guys did a great job of, really across the board, and I think we got five guys that, like you said, as finalists. I think that you can make a really strong case for a couple more that probably should be in that mix.
“I know J.D. wasn't in the finalists there. You could make a case for IKF. I think Judge splitting time between right and center probably hurt his chances of being on in one spot or the other. So we've been a really good defensive team all year and hopefully we can continue that.”
Donaldson was among the top third basemen in the league in most defensive metrics, while Kiner-Falefa struggled defensively towards the end of the regular season and into the postseason, leading to rookie Oswald Peraza getting the start in game two of the ALCS after Kiner-Falefa was benched in favor of Oswaldo Cabrera in the final two games of the ALDS.
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