The winner of the 2020 Rowlings Platinum Glove Award, which is presented each year to each league’s best overall defensive player, was announced on the MLB network on Friday night, and they are no strangers to the honor – in the American League, Royals left fielder Alex Gordon won
The winner of the 2020 Rowlings Platinum Glove Award, which is presented each year to the best overall defensive player in each league, was announced on the MLB network on Friday night, and they are no strangers to the honor – in the American League, the Royals left fielder
?? All-time Platinum Glove winner
Gordon, who announced that 2020 would be his final Major League season after a 1420-year career, in which he won eight Gold Glove Awards and another Platinum Glove Award (2014), was a fix in the Royals’ lineup for all 14 seasons. He is a three-time All-Star and helped Kansas City advance to the 2014 and ’15 World Series back-to-back World Series, while the Royals won their first championship in 30 years when they beat the Mets in ’15.
“A lot of players today hate the outfield because there’s a lot of time to think,” Gordon told the MLB Network after the award was announced. “But between the pitches, before it’s ready to happen, I always think about what is going to happen, what I need to do, where I need to be. The visualization in the outfield and in that kind of preparation before the play happens is huge and makes me very Helped. “
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Gordon was initially Kansas City’s third baseman, but went full-time in the left field after the 2010 season. He said he has a lot of people that he is thankful for the ability to transfer to the outfield, as well as the many injuries that have plagued him over the years, but, at most, his parents had the biggest influence on his successful Major League career.
“They gave me the morality of hard work, and that’s what got me where I am now.” Said Gorden. “Just a consistent work policy, not always satisfied and not always trying to be the best. I give a lot of credit to my parents.”
N.L. In, there is a rough era of playing defensively if your name is not Nolan Arenado. Colorado superstar Third Baseman won his eighth consecutive Gold Glove Award in 2020, breaking his own record for the most consecutive Gold Glove Awards to start an infielder’s career. Arenado’s N.L. Has a monopoly on the Platinum Glove Award, which it has now won for four consecutive years.
Despite the difficult season at the plate, in which he went through injury, Arenado led all baseball balls with 15 defensive runs saved during the 2020 season and with outfielders Jackie Bradley Jr. and Lewis Robert for an out-of-the-box average in the MLB.
With its complete defensive dominance at hot corners, a question naturally arises: what is the most difficult game for him?
“I think backhand is always a difficult game,” Arenado said on the MLB network. “Your body is going to the third base excavation and you have to throw the ball all over the body – it’s always the hardest game. This is probably the play that I work the most and it’s the hardest for me. Try to be as good as possible and that’s it. “
His teammates are also among the motivators for Arenado to come closer to the perfection of his craft.
“Those guys have made my life so much easier,” he said. “When I see a series of them and do plays, I want to range and do plays too. I remember in my rookie year, I played with Troy Tulovitsky, and I just tried to stay out of his way. But after a while, he used it to tell me to go or go and be aggressive. It’s kind of how we are – we push each other, and it always makes me a better fielder. “
With Gordon retiring, ambitious A.L. There is one less obstacle in the way of a player who wants to one day own a Platinum Glove Award. On the other hand, if you’re in the NL, good luck.
Manny Randhawa is a reporter for Denver-based MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter AnMannyOnMLB.
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