A's Reddick, Cespedes are Gold Glove finalists

OAKLAND -- A's outfielders Josh Reddick and Yoenis Cespedes have been named finalists for this year's American League Rawlings Gold Glove Awards at their respective positions.

The winners will be announced Tuesday at 5 p.m. PT on ESPN2.

Reddick won the prestigious defensive award last year in right field, becoming the eighth Oakland player to take home the trophy. He is going up against Baltimore's Nick Markakis and Boston's Shane Victorino this time around.

Last year, he beat out Shin-Soo Choo of the Indians and Jeff Francoeur of the Royals for the honor, which in past years had been voted on solely by managers and coaches. That isn't the case this year, as Rawlings collaborated with the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) to formally incorporate sabermetrics as a component of the Gold Glove Awards.

A committee of experts in baseball analytics and defensive measurement devised the SABR Defensive Index (SDI), which draws on and aggregates two types of existing defensive metrics: those derived from batted-ball, location-based data, and those collected from play-by-play accounts.

The three metrics representing batted-ball data include defensive runs saved (from Baseball Info Solutions), ultimate zone rating (developed by sabermetician Mitchel Lichtman) and runs effectively defended (created by SABR's Chris Dial).

The two metrics included in the SDI from play-by-play data are defensive regression analysis, created by committee member Michael Humphreys, and total zone rating.

The plan, according to Rawlings and SABR, is to have the SDI complement the judgment by the managers and coaches. The SABR Defensive Index will account for 30 total votes, or approximately 25 percent of the Gold Glove Award selection process, and will be added to the votes from the managers and coaches.

The 26-year-old Reddick made all 108 of his starts in right field this year, tying for third among AL outfielders in double plays (three) and ranking ninth in assists (nine). When considering defensive runs saved, Reddick had 13. Victorino finished with a whopping 24, and Markakis was at -7.

Reddick's ultimate zone rating (UZR) was 16.4. Again, Victorino led the AL in this category, with a 25 rating. Markakis finished at -6.6.

Cespedes had 10 assists, tying him for sixth place among AL outfielders, having made 91 of his 133 starts in left field. The other two finalists in left field are Detroit's Andy Dirks and Kansas City's Alex Gordon.

Cespedes compiled four defensive runs saved. Gordon had 16, while Dirks finished with six. Dirks, though, had a 9.4 UZR to Gordon's 8.6 and Cespedes' 8.

Left off the list of finalists was Josh Donaldson, who dazzled at the hot corner with daily defensive gems but also made 16 errors, tied for first among AL third baseman. Texas' Adrian Beltre, who has won the award each of the past two seasons, Baltimore's Manny Machado and Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria were announced as the final three nominees among AL third basemen.

The complete list of finalists:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Pitcher
Mark Buehrle, Blue Jays
R.A. Dickey, Blue Jays
Doug Fister, Tigers

Catcher
Joe Mauer, Twins
Salvador Perez, Royals
Matt Wieters, Orioles

First base
Chris Davis, Orioles
Eric Hosmer, Royals
James Loney, Rays

Second base
Robinson Cano, Yankees
Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
Ben Zobrist, Rays

Third base
Adrian Beltre, Rangers
Evan Longoria, Rays
Manny Machado, Orioles

Shortstop
Alcides Escobar, Royals
Yunel Escobar, Rays
J.J. Hardy, Orioles

Left field
Yoenis Cespedes, A's
Andy Dirks, Tigers
Alex Gordon, Royals

Center field
Lorenzo Cain, Royals
Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox
Adam Jones, Orioles

Right field
Nick Markakis, Orioles
Shane Victorino, Red Sox
Josh Reddick, A's

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Pitcher
Patrick Corbin, D-backs
Zack Greinke, Dodgers
Adam Wainwright, Cardinals

Catcher
A.J. Ellis, Dodgers
Russell Martin, Pirates
Yadier Molina, Cardinals

First base
Paul Goldschmidt, D-backs
Adrian Gonzalez, Dodgers
Anthony Rizzo, Cubs

Second base
Darwin Barney, Cubs
Brandon Phillips, Reds
Mark Ellis, Dodgers

Third base
Nolan Arenado, Rockies
Juan Uribe, Dodgers
David Wright, Mets

Shortstop
Ian Desmond, Nationals
Andrelton Simmons, Braves
Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies

Left field
Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies
Starling Marte, Pirates
Eric Young Jr., Mets

Center field
Carlos Gomez, Brewers
Andrew McCutchen, Pirates
Denard Span, Nationals

Right field
Jay Bruce, Reds
Jason Heyward, Braves
Gerardo Parra, D-backs