SF Giants absent from Gold Glove finalists

Rawlings on Thursday released their annual list of the top-3 finalists at every position in each league for their Gold Glove Awards, and for the first time since 2019 no SF Giants players were included.

The Giants have been up-and-down with regards to their number of finalists since Rawlings began releasing them in 2011. This year marks the fourth time in those 12 seasons that no Giants players were among the top three in their league at a position; before 2019, no one from the Orange and Black was named in either 2012 or 2013.

The high-water mark for finalists from San Francisco was in 2015, when four players - Buster Posey (catcher), Brandon Belt (first base), Matt Duffy (third base) and Brandon Crawford (shortstop) were all among the finalists at their respective positions.

Crawford won the award that year - his first of three consecutive and four total, in addition to claiming the honor last season - and was joined by Posey and Joe Panik in 2016 as the only other Giants winners in the "finalists" era.

Rawlings has been awarding the Gold Glove Award since 1957. That year, they gave one per position across the Major Leagues before splitting it up by league beginning in 1958.

Giants legend Willie Mays earned Gold Gloves in each of the first twelve years it was given, a number that is tied with Roberto Clemente for the most awarded to any outfielder in history - though Mays played three full seasons and parts of two more with the Giants before the award was established. Barry Bonds won five in his long tenure in San Francisco.

Gold Glove positions updated for 2022

After naming one player position (or, occasionally, a second thanks to a tie) for the entirety of Gold Glove history, Rawlings made an update to the 2022 announcement. Thanks to the proliferation of players playing multiple positions, a 10th award in each league will be given this year to a "utility" player. There's a chance this year that the same player will win two Gold Gloves, as two players on the National League list at utility player were also nominated for a regular position: Daulton Varsho in right field and Tommy Edman at second base.

The lack of finalists for the Giants this year does not come as a surprise. The team combined for 100 errors and a .983 fielding percentage on the season, good for 13th- and 12th-best, respectively, in the 15-team NL. Giants pitchers were regularly victimized by misplays from their defense or soft hits that very well could have been handled by better defenders, leading to unnecessary runs coming across in many close games.

The Gold Glove Award winners will be announced November 1 on ESPN before Game 4 of the World Series, according to MLB.