No surprises as 2 SF Giants defensive stalwarts take home Gold Glove Awards for 2024

The defensive recognition continues for a pair of SF Giants defensive stalwarts. On Sunday night, both Patrick Bailey and Matt Chapman were recognized as the NL Gold Glove recipients at catcher and third base, respectively.

No surprises as 2 SF Giants defensive stalwarts take home Gold Glove Awards for 2024

Minor tangent, but MLB needs to do a better job at promoting these awards. I do not know about you, but I had no idea the awards were even being given out until about five minutes before the announcement. Plus, it was done on a Sunday night with a football game going on.

This could be a much bigger ceremony, but with the way MLB currently handles it, it feels like just a footnote to conclude the season.

Anyways, both Chapman and Bailey were recognized as finalists last month along with Mike Yastrzemski in right field. Unfortunately, Yastrzemski did not take home the award.

It bears repeating that the voting concluded at the end of the season. The fact that the finalists were named last month is just the next step in revealing the winner. There is no additional voting done among the finalists.

Since being recognized, Chapman and Bailey were recognized with a Fielding Bible Award as well for defensive excellence at their respective positions. This award is weighted heavily by Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), which is good news for both players given that they led in that category at their position.

For Bailey, it represents his first time taking home the award and the second time being a finalist. He was arguably one of the best defensive players in baseball in 2024.

Bailey is an elite pitch framer. He led all qualified catchers with +16 Catcher Framing Runs and a 52.5 strike rate. He also has a quick pop time as he was tied for the league lead with an average pop time of 1.85 seconds to second base. On top of this, he has one of the better arms behind the plate.

On the other hand, Chapman took home his fifth award and this represents the second-straight year in which he won it. It also gives him the rare distinction of being one of the few players in baseball history to win a Gold Glove Award in both leagues. J.T. Snow is one of the few players to do so as well.

In addition to DRS, the Chapman tied Joey Ortiz of the Milwaukee Brewers for the lead among third basemen with +11 Outs Above Average (OAA) and +8 Fielding Run Value (FRV).

These defensive metrics do not factor into the voting, but there is a good chance that the coaches and managers are aware of them when they are voting. All it does is confirm the eye test. For Chapman and Bailey, this is a cool honor to cap off a pair of strong seasons in the field.