Philadelphia Phillies: Can Herrera and Galvis Win Gold Gloves?
By James Wicker
On Thursday, Phillies OF Odubel Herrera and SS Freddy Galvis were both nominated for NL Gold Glove Awards. What are their chances of winning these prestigious awards?
This afternoon, Rawlings announced its nominations for the 2016 Gold Glove awards in Major League Baseball. Of the 54 nominees overall, two of them are members of the Philadelphia Phillies. Freddy Galvis is up for the award at shortstop, and Odubel Herrera is a nominee for the center field award. Let’s look at their chances of winning, and what kind of opposition they have for the award.
Odubel Herrera
Herrera is coming off a season where he impressed in the first half of the season, thus earning him the only All-Star spot on the Phillies. His play, however, tailed off in the second half of the season. His nomination may come as a bit of a surprise to some, as Herrera led NL CF’s in errors with 9. That figure was slightly easy to overlook though, as Odubel had the most putouts among NL CF’s (372) and his 11 outfield assists were the most from a Phillie OF since Shane Victorino in 2010.
Herrera is competing with Billy Hamilton of the Reds, and Ender Inciarte of the Braves. Of the two Phillies up for these awards, Herrera seems the less likely of the two to win. While probably lucky to even get a nomination, it would be surprising to see a Gold Glove winner be someone who led the league in errors for their position.
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Another thing going against Herrera is games played. Hamilton played 115 games, and Inciarte played 120 games. Herrera was involved in 155, and still had less putouts and assists than Inciarte. Hamilton and Inciarte both also had over a .1 better fielding percentage than Herrera, which is fairly significant.
Fans that have watched the Phillies this year will argue Herrera took a step back in some aspects. He might have the highlight reel outfield catches, but there has been the case made that he is getting poor reads on the ball and finds himself making up ground all the time. Statistically, he also had a better year in the field last year with a .09 drop in his fielding percentage in 2016.
It will likely come down to Hamilton and Inciarte, but Herrera has done well to get himself in the group of finalists.
Freddy Galvis
Freddy Galvis is coming off of his best year as a Phillie since being called to the majors in 2012. He was fourth on the team in HR’s with 20, and 2nd on the team in RBI’s with 67. But what also separated him was his consistent defensive play as usual. With only 8 errors and a .987 fielding percentage in 156 games, Galvis continued to display his elite defensive game.
Galvis is pitted against Brandon Crawford of the Giants, and Addison Russell of the Cubs. Galvis is certainly the underdog right off the bat based off national popularity. But when looking at statistics, Galvis is right there with them.
His 8 errors were 3 less than Crawford, and 6 less than Russell. Galvis was also tied for second in the majors in fielding percentage. When looking at advanced statistics, according to FanGraphs, Galvis’ Overall Defensive Rating is 22.0, third in the majors. Brandon Crawford is way out in front with 28.0 in that category. Given Crawford’s overall reputation of a defensive stud, it looks as if he is the front runner for the award.
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While neither Herrera or Galvis look likely to win their respective awards, it’s an honor to be nominated nonetheless. Herrera could maybe consider himself lucky to pick up a nomination, but Galvis’ is no doubt well deserved. The winners are announced November 8th, and it will be interesting to see if fellow MLB players and managers will choose any of these Phillies for baseball’s prestigious defensive award.