Molina, Rollins Among National League Gold Glove Winners

A day after the American League winners were chosen, today the National League Gold Glove winners were announced. Although plagued with inconsistency, the National League voters made one great choice (Yadier Molina), one surprisingly good choice (Ryan Zimmerman), and a couple of questionable ones (Adrian Gonzalez and Adam Wainwright).

Molina, the St. Louis Cardinals' catcher, had another terrific season behind the plate. He threw out over 40% of potential base stealers, and also handled a pitching staff with pitchers who specialize in throwing a plethora of hard to catch pitches, like Joel Pineiro's sinking fastball or Chris Carpenter's dominating curveball. This is not even to mention Molina's ability to pick off runners from first base, a trait usually reserved for pitchers. Of all the players in either league, if Molina had been denied the Gold Glove I would have lost all faith in the validity of the award.

Zimmerman, meanwhile, was forced to make his terrific plays at third base for one of the worst teams in baseball, the Washington Nationals. Possibly due to increased exposure on Sportscenter (Zimmerman led all baseball players in number of "Web Gems," a subjective analysis of the best defensive plays of the day given out on ESPN), Zimmerman nonetheless was a terrific choice for the National League Gold Glove. He was not only consistent, but also has the ability to get outs on plays that would end up as hits with anyone else at third base.

The National League Gold Gloves were not all good, however. Although not a bad choice by any means, Adrian Gonzalez probably received the award based on two stats: His low number of errors (7) and his winning of the 2008 Gold Glove. Albert Pujols committed more errors (13) than Gonzalez, but this could've been due to the suspect defense of the rest of the St. Louis infield, which included Skip Schumacher, who played second base for the first time in his career in 2009. Pujols routinely made terrific plays at first base, and was probably a more deserving winner, although the voters may have had reservations giving the Gold Glove to a player that is probably going to win the MVP, among other awards.

Adam Wainwright, on the other hand, benefitted from the lack of a clear defensive champion at the pitching position. Since 1990, the only player to win a National League Gold Glove at pitcher besides Greg Maddux was Mike Hampton in 2003. With Maddux having retired before the 2009 season, the pitching Gold Glove was up in the air. Wainwright is by no means a bad defensive pitcher, but I never saw him do anything to set himself apart as a "great" defensive pitcher, and it seems doubtful that no other pitcher was better than him on the defensive end.

The complete list of 2009 National League Gold Glove winners, with career number of Gold Gloves won in parentheses:

C - Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals (2^nd)

1B - Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego Padres (2^nd)

2B - Orlando Hudson, Los Angeles Dodgers (4^th)

3B - Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals (1^st)

SS -Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies (3^rd)

OF - Shane Victorino, Philadelphia Phillies (2^nd)

OF - Michael Bourn, Houston Astros (1^st)

OF - Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers (1^st)

P - Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals (1^st)

(All statistics, including the list of winners, acquired from ESPN.com)