The Pittsburgh Pirates had three Gold Glove finalists ahead of the announcements for the awards on Sunday night. They ended up with one winner, as Jacob Stallings took home the award for National League catchers, his first Gold Glove award.
Stallings posted a 2.3 defensive WAR this season, which ranked him second to third baseman Ryan McMahon in all of the National League, but as McMahon found out, being the best didn’t guarantee a Gold Glove. He lost out to Nolan Arenado, whose dWAR was well below McMahon’s league leading total. Stallings had the same perennial winner in his category, but he beat out Yadier Molina (and JT Realmuto) for the award.
Stallings is the third Pirates catcher to win the award and first since Mike Lavalliere in 1987. Tony Pena was the other winner.
Kevin Newman lost out to Brandon Crawford for the shortstop award, while Harrison Bader received the center field win over Bryan Reynolds.
