Brice Turang, Blake Perkins, and Sal Frelick in final three at their positions
Major League Baseball has revealed the finalists for the 2024 Gold Glove awards, listing three players at each position from whom the winners will be chosen. Brice Turang (second base), Blake Perkins (center field), and Sal Frelick (right field) have made the final three for Milwaukee.
Whether any of the Brewers win may depend on which defensive metric the voters prefer. At second base, Turang finished second among the three finalists in Statcast’s Outs Above Average (behind Ketel Marte but ahead of Bryson Stott), but by the measure of Defensive Runs Saved, Turang ranked third in all of baseball, and first among infielders. Turang is considered by some to be a contender for the Platinum Glove—the league’s top overall defender—and is thus probably the most likely to win his award.
But if defensive metrics are to be trusted, Frelick might actually have the best shot. Frelick ranks ahead of both of his co-finalists, Arizona’s Jake McCarthy and San Francisco’s Mike Yastrzemski, in both OAA and DRS. In fact, Frelick’s 15 DRS (according to the Fielding Bible) make Frelick the highest-rated outfielder in the National League.
Perkins had less playing time than the other finalists in center field (Washington’s Jacob Young and Colorado’s Brenton Doyle) but was clearly a very good outfielder and had several signature moments this season. Young is probably the favorite for that award, as he tied Cleveland’s Andrés Giménez for the top spot in the league in OAA, and he played 29 more games than Perkins.
A couple of Brewers could feel somewhat aggrieved by being left out. One is rookie phenom Jackson Chourio; he’s an interesting case, in that he often looked a little uncomfortable out there but his speed and range more than made up for that shakiness as he ranked 19th in DRS and was a respectable five outs above average. Joey Ortiz also had strong defensive metrics, and while the Giants’ Matt Chapman will probably win that third-base Gold Glove unanimously, Ortiz had a solid argument to at least be a finalist.
Winners of the Gold Glove awards will be revealed on ESPN on November 3 at 7:30 p.m.