Dustin Pedroia and Shane Victorino receive 2013 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards
BOSTON, MA -Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia and right fielder Shane Victorino each received 2013 American League Rawlings Gold Glove Awards at their respective positions. The announcement of the American and National League Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners was made tonight by the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company.
This marks Pedroia's third Rawlings Gold Glove Award, as he also received the honor in 2008 and 2011. Since the award's inception in 1957, he is the sixth player to win at least three with Boston, along with Frank Malzone (3 at third base), Carl Yastrzemski (7 in the outfield), George Scott (3 at first base), Fred Lynn (4 in the outfield), and Dwight Evans (8 in the outfield).
Pedroia led the majors while establishing club records with both a career-high 160 games and 159 starts at second base in 2013. According to Fangraphs, he topped all major league second baseman with 15 defensive runs saved and also led the American League with an .836 zone rating at the position. His .993 fielding percentage (5 errors/688 total chances) ranked second among AL qualifiers at second base, percentage points behind Tampa Bay's Ben Zobrist (.9927 to .9928). Pedroia did not make his first error of the season until his 70th game on June 15, ending a club-record 69 errorless games at second base to begin the year.
For Victorino it is his fourth Rawlings Gold Glove Award, tied with Cincinnati second baseman Brandon Phillips for the second-most among 2013 winners behind the Cardinals' Yadier Molina who earned his sixth at catcher. He previously won Gold Gloves in three consecutive seasons from 2008-10 while with the Phillies.
In his first season with the Red Sox in 2013, Victorino made a career-high 106 starts in right field and appeared in 110 games overall at the position. He also made 11 starts and played in 15 games in center field. The Hawaii native tied for sixth in the American League with a team-leading 10 outfield assists, and his nine assists from right field tied for the AL lead and marked the most by a Red Sox right fielder since Trot Nixon recorded nine in 2005. He tallied the third-most putouts among AL right fielders (264) and his three double plays tied for second-most in the circuit at the position. According to Fangraphs, Victorino led the AL with 24 defensive runs saved in right field.
The Red Sox have multiple Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners for just the second time in the last 23 years (also three in 2011: Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez at first base, and Jacoby Ellsbury in center field) and 11th time overall since the award began in 1957.
In addition to Boston's 2013 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners, Jacoby Ellsbury was a finalist in center field but the award went to Baltimore's Adam Jones.
The fan vote for the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award winner presented by SABR begins tonight at www.rawlings.com. The final SABR Defensive Index will join the international fan vote to determine the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award winners in each league. Fans can only select one player among the 2013 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners to take home the "best of the best" honor. The Rawlings Platinum Glove Award winners will be unveiled during the 2013 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Ceremony presented by Gold Sport Collectibles on Friday, November 8, 2013, at The Plaza Hotel in New York City.