Marlins’ Miguel Rojas misses out on Gold Glove Award. And Miami retains Stottlemyre Jr.
For the second time in three seasons, Miami Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas came oh-so-close to winning his first Gold Glove Award — and the metrics supported him winning the award.
Rojas was one of three finalists for the National League’s Gold Glove Award at shortstop — an honor never won by a Marlins player — but ultimately came up short to the Atlanta Braves’ Dansby Swanson for the award, which was announced Tuesday.
Winning a Gold Glove has been a goal of Rojas’ since he made his MLB debut in 2014 and one he knew could become a reality beginning in 2019 when he transitioned from a defensive replacement and utility infielder to the Marlins’ full-time starting shortstop.
He was a finalist for the award during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when the award was solely determined by defensive metrics. Javier Baez won the award that year.
And he was a finalist again this year, alongside Swanson and the San Diego Padres’ Ha-Seong Kim.
“I feel like this has been my best year so far in terms of defensive production,” Rojas said in September. “It’s been really special.”
According to Rawlings’ Gold Glove selection criteria, the winner at each position was determined by a combination of votes from managers and coaches (75 percent) as well as the SABR Defensive Index (25 percent), which is a “measure of the number of runs saved by a player’s defensive performance over the course of a season, compared to the average defensive player at that position.” The SABR Defensive Index takes into account defensive aspects such as range, sure-handedness and ability to turn double plays, among other metrics, when evaluating shortstops.
As for who had the highest ranking in the SABR Defensive Index among NL shortstops? That was Rojas, who had a 9.0 rating. The Chicago Cubs’ Nico Hoerner, who was not even a Gold Glove finalist, ranked second at 8.3. Swanson was third at 7.7 and Kim fourth at 7.6
On the voting front, each manager and six coaches from each team casted votes for every position and were only able to vote in their league. That’s 105 votes for each position in each league. Managers and coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players.
According to Fangraphs, Rojas led NL shortstops with 15 defensive runs saved. His 10 outs above average according to Statcast tied with the Milwaukee Brewers’ Willy Adames for fifth in the NL, behind Swanson (20), the New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor (13), Hoerner (13) and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Tommy Edman (11).
Rojas also at one point down the stretch of the season played 64 consecutive games at shortstop without an error, breaking the franchise record previously held by Hanley Ramirez (54 games in 2009). Rojas committed just seven total errors this season.
Mel Stottlemyre Jr. staying with Marlins
One of Skip Schumaker’s first tasks now that he has been hired as Marlins manager is to fill out his coaching staff.
At least one key member from Miami’s staff the past few seasons is returning, as pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. has agreed to a multi-year deal.
Stottlemyre has been with the Marlins since 2019 and retaining him on staff was a high priority for Miami. He has been instrumental in the growth of Miami’s young starting pitchers. Sandy Alcantara, who is the frontrunner for the 2022 National League Cy Young Award, is the most prominent example, but the development of (among others) Pablo Lopez, Edward Cabrera, Braxton Garrett and Jesus Luzardo under Stottlemyre’s tutelage has been paramount as well.
