Juan Lagares earns first Rawlings Gold Glove
Major League Baseball and Rawlings announced tonight that Mets centerfielder Juan Lagares earned his first career Rawlings Gold Glove.
Lagares finished second among major league outfielders with 28 defensive runs saved, despite playing 372.0 fewer innings than leader Jason Heyward, who had 32. He had six assists, with three getting a runner at the plate. Lagares' Ultimate Zone Rating per 150 games (UZR/150) was 25.3, second among all major leaguers.
"It's to the point that I'm shocked when Juan doesn't catch every ball hit to the outfield," said Mets Manager Terry Collins. "He makes everything look so easy. After some of his catches, I would turn to my coaching staff and say 'How did he do that?' What makes last year so special is that he became a complete player. He became an offensive threat. I think in the future he will become a base-stealing threat too. His ceiling is limitless."
"He's the best outfielder I've ever played with as far as arm strength, accuracy and tracking balls," said teammate Curtis Granderson. "There's nobody better."
Lagares is the third Mets outfielder to win a Gold Glove, joining Tommie Agee (1970) and Carlos Beltran (2006-2008). Lagares is the 10th player in franchise history to win a Gold Glove. In addition to Lagares, Agee and Beltran, Bud Harrelson, Doug Flynn, Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, Rey Ordonez, Robin Ventura and David Wright have earned a Rawlings Gold Glove.
Fans will determine the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award for the top overall defender in each league in an online vote. The voting ends at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, November 5.