Simmons honored as Braves' top defender
ATLANTA -- Andrelton Simmons notched his first Rawlings Gold Glove Award last week, but the exciting Braves shortstop will have to wait at least one more year to be named Wilson's National League Defensive Player of the Year.
To the surprise of nobody, Simmons was named the Braves Defensive Player of the Year by Wilson, and there was certainly reason to believe Simmons would be the second consecutive Braves player to earn Wilson's top NL honor. But in somewhat surprising fashion, D-backs outfielder Gerardo Parra was deemed the winner during Thursday evening's announcement, televised on MLB Network.
Simmons and Parra were undoubtedly the top two candidates to be named NL Defensive Player of the Year. The 41 Defensive Runs Saved credited to both players stands as the highest total since the metric was first used in 2003. But Parra emerged victorious courtesy of the statistical formula Wilson used to determine the winner.
Wilson's formula accounted for DRS (25 percent), Defensive Wins Above Replacement (25 percent), Inside Edge's Fielding Range (20 percent), Inside Edge's Arm Accuracy (20 percent) and Fielding Percentage (10 percent).
In his first full Major League season, Simmons cemented his status as one of the game's most efficient defenders. The athletic shortstop posted a 5.4 Defensive WAR (Baseball-Reference's model), which also stands as the highest mark produced by a Major League player in history.
When Wilson first presented its awards last year, former Atlanta center fielder Michael Bourn was named the NL's Defensive Player of the Year and the Braves were recognized as the NL Defensive Team of the Year.
The GIBBY trophy for Defensive Player of the Year will be awarded as part of the 2013 Greatness in Baseball Yearly Awards, which are based on voting by media, front-office personnel, MLB alumni and the Society for American Baseball Research, as well as fan balloting on MLB.com.
Voting launched on Oct. 31 and will continue through Dec. 1. Fans will be able to cast their ballots at MLB.com for the year's top defensive star, with no individual league affiliation.