Lindor, Rizzo Named Platinum Glove Winners Softball
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Lindor, Rizzo named Platinum Glove winners Softball star Andrews receives first female Gold Glove at awards ceremony By Joe Trezza / MLB.com | November 12th, 2016 NEW YORK -- Their gloves already gold for the first time this year, Francisco Lindor and Anthony Rizzo turned platinum Friday night. Lindor and Rizzo were presented with the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award as Major League Baseball's best overall defensive players in each league during the Gold Glove Awards ceremony at The Plaza in Manhattan. The awards were well deserved, as both Rizzo and Lindor cemented their places among baseball's elite defenders this season. Rizzo led MLB first basemen with 125 assists and 11 Defensive Runs Saved. Lindor ranked in the top 10 in Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved while posting a 2.7 dWAR (defensive wins above replacement), tied for the best among shortstops. The Platinum Glove is awarded based on a formula that combined fan voting and the Society of Baseball Research's SABR Defensive Index. As is the case every year, the event was flush with baseball royalty, including Roberto Alomar, Joe Torre, Jim Palmer, Don Mattingly, Jim Edmonds, Andre Dawson, Bernie Williams, Steve Garvey and Doc Gooden. Two living legends were honored in addition to this year's winners. Brooks Robinson, considered by many to be the greatest third baseman of all time, was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by Palmer. Al Kaline, the 15-time Detroit Tigers All-Star, was inducted into the Gold Glove Hall of Fame in a presentation by Jim Kaat. National Pro Fastpitch softball star A.J. Andrews became the first female Gold Glove winner. The former LSU standout is known for making highlight-reel catches as an outfielder for the Akron Races. Now in its 58th year, the Rawlings Gold Glove has been awarded to 323 players, all male Major League Baseball players, until now. "I'm really excited to be that pioneer that paves the way for more girls to win Gold Gloves in the future," Andrews said. "For young girls to grow up thinking they can win something MLB players do, I don't think anyone understands the significance in that." American League Gold Glove recipients were Lindor at shortstop, catcher Salvador Perez of the Royals, first baseman Mitch Moreland of the Rangers, second baseman Ian Kinsler of the Tigers, third baseman Adrian Beltre of the Rangers, left fielder Brett Gardner of the Yankees, center fielder Kevin Kiermaier of the Rays, right fielder Mookie Betts of the Red Sox and pitcher Dallas Keuchel of the Astros. National League trophies went to Rizzo at first base, catcher Buster Posey of the Giants, second baseman Joe Panik of the Giants, third baseman Nolan Arenado of the Rockies, shortstop Brandon Crawford of the Giants, left fielder Starling Marte of the Pirates, center fielder Ender Inciarte of the Braves, right fielder Jason Heyward of the Cubs and right-handed pitcher Zack Greinke of the D-backs. Posey, Rizzo, Panik, Inciarte, Moreland, Kinsler, Lindor, Garner and Betts were all first-time winners. Beltre won his fifth career Gold Glove, while Arenado and Perez took home their fourth consecutive awards. "Beltre, to me, is on his way to the Hall of Fame," Robinson said. Arenado is the first third baseman in Major League history to begin his career with four consecutive Gold Glove wins. "He's the best defensive player I've ever seen at any position," 15-year veteran and former teammate Michael Cuddyer said last year. Posey's first career selection broke a streak of eight straight awards for Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, who will likely be honored with a lifetime achievement award of his own one day. Esurance MLB Awards week concludes Nov. 18 on MLB Network and MLB.com at 8 p.m. ET with the MLB Awards. Categories include Best Major Leaguer, Hitter, Pitcher, Rookie and Manager, and recognize overall MLB winners with no league distinction. Naquin rises quickly to Rookie of Year finalist By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com | @MLBastian | November 11th, 2016 CLEVELAND -- In his meeting with manager Terry Francona at the start of Spring Training, Indians outfielder Tyler Naquin was told he had a legitimate shot at making the Opening Day roster. Naquin seized the opportunity and turned in a campaign that now has him in the running for some end-of-season hardware. Naquin is in the mix for the American League Rookie of the Year Award, along with Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez and Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer. While Sanchez and Fulmer appear to be the favorites, Naquin has a case based on the fact that he spent the most time in the Major Leagues of the three finalists. The winner will be announced in a 6 p.m. ET special on Monday on MLB Network. Esurance MLB Awards week concludes Friday on MLB Network and MLB.com at 8 p.m. ET with the MLB Awards. Categories include Best Major Leaguer, Hitter, Pitcher, Rookie, Executive and Manager, and recognize overall MLB winners. "We put him in a challenging spot," Indians general manager Mike Chernoff said at the end of the season. "It's pretty rare -- at least in our experience -- for a player who had no Major League experience [to be] an everyday player who made the team out of Spring Training." The cases for Sanchez and Fulmer are compelling. Sanchez had only 229 plate appearances in 53 games for the Yankees, but the catcher did a season's worth of damage. Among the 172 rookies in baseball history to belt at least 20 home runs, Sanchez did so in the fewest games and plate appearances. He collected 32 extra- base hits, 42 RBIs and a 1.032 OPS in helping New York remain in the postseason chase into the final month. For Detroit, Fulmer did not join the rotation until late April, but he went 11-7 with a 3.06 ERA in 159 innings. The right-hander fell three innings shy of qualifying for the ERA race, in which he would have ended third in the AL with his season-end mark. Fulmer teamed with Detroit ace Justin Verlander to keep the Tigers' starting staff respectable as the team attempted to keep pace with the AL Central champion Indians. Naquin played a big role for the Tribe, which not only won the division but also went on to capture a pennant. In 116 games, Naquin turned in a .296/.372/.517 slash line in 365 plate appearances. The center fielder ranked second among AL rookie hitters in WAR (2.5 per FanGraphs) and weighted Runs Created Plus (135), while finishing third in the AL rookie class in games, runs scored (52), on- base percentage and slugging percentage. With the exception of two brief stints at Triple-A because of a roster crunch, Naquin was a regular part of the Indians' order. "He battled some adversity early on," Chernoff said, "with some ups and downs and the uncertainty of our roster at that time. The way he went down, worked really hard when he was down in the Minor Leagues, came back and hit the ground running when he came back, was really exceptional to see." All 14 of Naquin's home runs came between June and August, during which he posted a .988 OPS for the Indians. He had a four-RBI game on June 19, a two-homer showing with six RBIs on June 20 and then provided the signature moment of Cleveland's season on Aug. 19. On that night against Toronto, Naquin delivered a walk-off, inside-the-park home run -- a feat that had not been accomplished by a Tribe hitter since 1916. Along the way, Francona used Naquin mostly against right-handed pitching. When the season ended, Naquin compiled 325 plate appearances against righties, compared to 40 against left-handers. That was a way to not only protect Naquin in his first taste of the big leagues but to also field the best lineup. "One of the things Tito does so well is he's thinking about, 'How do I put a player in the position to be successful?'" Chernoff said. "We felt and Tito thought, 'Let's find those opportunities for Tyler to transition to the Major Leagues that put him in the best position to succeed.' That happened to be against mostly right-handed pitchers. He faced a couple of lefties, but mostly righties. "That doesn't necessarily mean that would be the same thing moving forward as Tyler continues to mature and develop." Naquin, who was Cleveland's top pick in the 2012 Draft, finished with the most home runs by an Indians rookie since 2008, when Ben Francisco knocked 15. He matched a Cleveland rookie record with his six-RBI game against the Royals and became the first Tribe rookie since 1986 (Cory Snyder) to have two home runs and six RBIs in one game. Among Indians rookies with at least 300 at-bats, Naquin's .372 OBP and .514 SLG were the best marks since 1956 (Rocky Colavito, .372/.531). Naquin's .886 OPS was also the best mark by a Tribe rookie since Colavito's .903 showing in that '56 season. The 126 OPS+ posted by Naquin was the highest by a Cleveland rookie since Joe Charboneau (129) in '80. Charboneau won the Rookie of the Year after that season. "It's fun to see a homegrown player with that type of mentality join the team and contribute in the way he did," Chernoff said of Naquin. "He was one of our most productive offensive players for the year when you look at the statistics.