Beltre, Napoli are Gold Glove Award finalists

By T.R. Sullivan

October 29, 2015

ARLINGTON -- Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre has a chance to win his fifth Rawlings Gold Glove Award for fielding excellence.

First baseman Mike Napoli is also in line to win his first Gold Glove. Beltre and Napoli were selected as one of the three finalists at their positions to be on the American League Gold Glove team. Winners will be unveiled during a live, one-hour "Baseball Tonight -- The 2015 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Announcement Show" on ESPN2 on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015, at 7 p.m. ET.

• VOTE NOW: Esurance MLB Awards Best Defensive Player

Beltre won the Gold Glove in 2007 and '08 with the Mariners and in 2011 and '12 with the Rangers. He needs one more to become the 10th third baseman in Major League history to win five Gold Gloves.

Beltre is up against Manny Machado of the Orioles and Evan Longoria of the Rays. According to Fangraphs, Beltre had the highest ultimate zone rating (11.8) of any AL third baseman. Josh Donaldson was second at 9.2, Machado was third at 8.4 and Longoria was fourth at 7.4. Longoria has won two Gold Gloves and Machado one.

Napoli was selected as one of the finalists at first base along with Eric Hosmer of the Royals and Mark Teixeira of the Yankees. Mitch Moreland, who played first base for the Rangers, actually had the highest ultimate zone rating (4.2) among qualified AL first basemen, according to Fangraphs.

Napoli didn't play enough first base to be listed among the qualifying leaders, but his 4.4 ultimate zone rating was the highest among those with at least 750 innings at the position. Hosmer was at 1.0 and Teixeira was at 0.4.

Video: TEX@SEA: Odor starts nice double play to end frame

Hosmer has won the Gold Glove in each of the last two seasons while Teixeira is a five-time winner. He won two of those with the Rangers in 2005 and '06.

Napoli started in 101 games at first base, but only 11 with the Rangers, after being acquired from the Red Sox on Aug. 7. He actually started as many games in left field for the Rangers as he did first base.

T.R. Sullivan is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Postcards from Elysian Fields, follow him on Twitter @Sullivan_Ranger and listen to his podcast.