From the Boston Red Sox:
BOSTON, MA – Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia won his second straight American League Rawlings Gold Glove Award in 2014. The Rawlings Sporting Goods Company announced the winners tonight.
This honor marks the fourth of Pedroia’s career, passing Frank Malzone (3 at third base, 1957-59) and George Scott (3 at first base, 1967-68 and 1971) for the most ever by a Red Sox infielder. Pedroia also received Gold Gloves in 2008, 2011, and 2013.
Since the award’s inception in 1957, only three other Red Sox have totaled as many as four Gold Gloves, all in the outfield: Dwight Evans (8), Carl Yastrzemski (7), and Fred Lynn (4).
In 135 games and 133 starts at second base this season, Pedroia committed a career-low two errors. He led qualifying major leaguers with a .997 fielding percentage at the position, the best-ever mark in Red Sox history at second base. In the American League, only Placido Polanco has ever posted a fielding percentage that high at second base, doing so with the Tigers in 2007 (1.000) and 2009 (.997).
Along with fielding percentage, Pedroia also led AL second basemen in putouts per nine innings (1.87) as well as range factor per nine innings (4.94). According to Fangraphs, he also topped all major league second baseman in Ultimate Zone Rating per 150 games (20.4).
Pedroia is the first Red Sox player at any position to win a Gold Glove in consecutive seasons since Dwight Evans did it in five straight years from 1981-85. The only other Boston infielders to win the award in back-to-back seasons were Malzone and Scott.
No AL second baseman had won back-to-back Gold Glove Awards since Bret Boone took three in a row from 2002-04. Only Roberto Alomar (10), Frank White (8), and Bobby Richardson (5) have won more than Pedroia’s four AL Gold Gloves at second base, while Bobby Grich also collected four at the position.
In addition to Pedroia, Jackie Bradley Jr. was a finalist for the center field award that went to Baltimore’s Adam Jones, and Yoenis Cespedes was a finalist for the left field award that went to Kansas City’s Alex Gordon.
The majority of voting for Rawlings Gold Glove Awards is conducted by major league managers and coaches. A sabermetric component, the SABR Defensive Index, accounts for 25 percent of the overall selection total.
Fan voting for the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award presented by SABR begins tonight at www.rawlings.com and continues through tomorrow, November 5, at 8:00 p.m. ET. The SABR Defensive Index will join the international fan vote to determine the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award winners in each league. Fans can only select one 2014 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner from each league to take home this “best of the best” honor. The Rawlings Platinum Glove Award winners will be unveiled on Friday, November 7.
