Colorado Rockies’ Nolan Arenado wins second Fielding Bible award

For the second straight year, Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado has won the Fielding Bible award for third base. While not as well-known as the Gold Glove awards, the Fielding Bible awards are better representation of the best fielders in the majors because of their selective voting panel. They also only honor one player at each position in all of the majors, as opposed to one each in the NL and AL.

The awards are announced in the annual Bill James Handbook which was just released and had this to say about Arenado.

It's back-to-back Fielding Bible Awards for Nolan Arenado. He received all but one of the first place votes at third base for a total of 119 points. He also finished well ahead in Defensive Runs Saved, saving 20 runs for the Rockies, a good margin ahead of the 15 runs saved by Adrián Beltré (Texas) and Kyle Seager (Seattle). Arenado also led all fielders (not just third basemen) recording 75 Good Fielding Plays where he made a play that was not likely to be an out or prevent an advancement with an average play

Also a recently announced finalist for the Gold Glove awards, which he is a heavy favorite to win his fourth in a row, Arenado is putting a serious damper on anyone who would want to argue that he’s not the best defensive third baseman in the game.

The other winners this year were:

First Base – Anthony Rizzo, Chicago Cubs
Second Base – Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox
Shortstop – Andrelton Simmons, Los Angeles Angels
Left Field – Starling Marté, Pittsburgh Pirates
Center Field – Kevin Pillar, Toronto Blue Jays
Right Field – Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox
Catcher – Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants
Pitcher – Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros
Multi-Position – Javier Báez, Chicago Cubs