KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Rawlings Sporting Goods Company on Friday announced that five Kansas City Royals are finalists to win the company’s famed Gold Glove Awards. Those players include: Center fielder Lorenzo Cain, shortstop Alcides Escobar, left fielder Alex Gordon, first baseman Eric Hosmer and catcher Salvador Perez.
The Royals’ five finalists are second-most in the American League, behind Baltimore’s six and tied for second-most in Major League Baseball with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Finalists are narrowed down to three at each position. Gordon is a two-time winner who is opposed by Oakland’s Yoenis Cespedes and the Tigers’ Andy Dirks. Cain is battling Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury and Baltimore’s Adam Jones. Matt Weiters, also of Baltimore, and division rival Joe Mauer are Perez’s competition at catcher. Hosmer is a finalist alongside emerging star Chris Davis and Tampa Bay Ray James Loney. Finally, two Escobars are finalists at shortstop between Alcides and Yunel, who is a Tampa Bay Ray, and J.J Hardy from Baltimore.
Gordon looks to be an easy choice to win his third award as he led AL left fielders in putouts and assists while only committing one error all season. Perez may face trouble after committing the second-most amount of errors at catcher behind J.P Arencibia. But Perez did lead AL catchers in runners caught stealing and assists, which may give him a boost.
Hosmer is in a similar position to Perez as he tied for the league lead in errors at first base, but on the flip side, easily led the league in assists. Hardy holds a slight edge over Alcides Escobar in most major defensive categories including double plays turned, putouts and assists.
The same goes for the battle between center fielders where Adam Jones holds leads for assists and put outs while he only committed two errors en route to a .995 fielding percentage. Cain is slightly off Jones’ pace with a .990 fielding percentage but does rank in the top five in Total Zone Runs with 17 according to Baseball-reference.com.
Gold Glove winners will be announced next Tuesday night at 6 p.m. on ESPN 2.
