The Colorado Rockies have three Gold Glove finalists, according to an announcement by the award's sponsor, Rawlings Sports, on Thursday.
Nolan Arenado, who won the NL Gold Glove at third base a year ago, is a safe bet to take home the award again for 2014. Arenado finished the season with a UZR/150 of 6.3 per Fangraphs and was eight runs above average, according to Baseball-Reference, for the second straight year. Arenado committed more errors -- a stat that unfortunately will carry some weight -- than he did in 2013, but he also still ranked second among NL third basemen in UZR and led the league at the position in several other advanced defensive metrics.
Most importantly, he did stuff like this on the reg:
DJ LeMahieu turned in the best defensive season by any Rockies player in 2014, and was arguably the best they've ever had at his position. The 26-year-old played at four different spots but was lights out at second base, leading the NL (and setting a team record) with a UZR/150 of 11.0 and finishing five runs above average per Baseball-Reference. LeMahieu passed the eye test as well, taking hits away on a daily basis.
At first I was shocked to see Justin Morneau's name among the finalists, but going back to take a look at the stats made me realize just how quitely excellent he was on defense. In addition to winning the NL batting title, Morneau proved an extremely suitable replacement for Todd Helton in the field, finishing 11 runs above average and posting a UZR/150 of 7.2 in more than 1,100 innings at first base. It's amazing what finally being healthy allowed the 33-year-old Canadian to accomplish in his first year in Denver.