Machado, O's rewarded for standout D by Wilson
BALTIMORE -- Third baseman Manny Machado collected another defensive honor on Thursday night, taking home the Orioles' top honor for the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year.
Baltimore, which had three Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners, shared American League Defensive Team of the Year honors with the Kansas City Royals after setting a Major League record for fewest errors in a season and most errorless games.
Founded in 2012, the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award is determined by a formula that balances scouting information, sabermetric analysis and basic fielding statistics. One player from each Major League club was recognized as its top defensive player, with Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia and Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Gerardo Parra taking home top honors in their respective leagues.
Machado, who beat out Texas' Adrian Beltre and Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria for his first career Gold Glove Award, is coming off an outstanding first full season. The 21-year-old led AL third basemen in fielding percentage (.973), assists (355), double plays turned (42) and range factor (3.02), finishing second with 116 putouts. An AL All-Star, Machado posted 32 total zone runs, the number of runs above average the player was worth, based on the number of plays made. That was the highest total for any defensive player in the Majors in 2013 and tied for 12th all time. He also posted the best defensive season by an AL infielder since Mark Belanger was credited with 35 total zone runs in 1975.
Additionally, Machado's 4.4 defensive wins above replacement score led the AL and was the third-highest total in the Majors, tying for the eighth-highest single-season total in history, regardless of position.
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.