Orange, Black, and GOLD
The Baltimore Orioles came away with some gold tonight as three of their players won gold glove awards. JJ Hardy, Adam Jones and Matt Wieters all came away with the gold gloves.
Matt Wieters was the first Oriole to be awarded tonight for his outstanding defense, beating out Russell Martin (NYY), AJ Pierzynski (CWS), and Alex Avila (DET). Wieters is the only Orioles catcher to win the award, and now he owns two consecutive Gold Gloves. He led the league in defensive games played (134) and putouts (994), while ranking 2nd in runners caught stealing (32), and 3rd in caught stealing percentage (38.6). Not to mention he endured 1188.2 innings behind the plate, which is 117.1 innings more than 2nd ranked AJ Pierzynski. It goes unmentioned that Wieters also took a shaky starting rotation and guided them into the Orioles first playoff appearance since 1997.
For Adam Jones, this was also his second Gold Glove and first since 2009. Jones played in all 162 games this season, which seems nearly impossible with the extra-inning games and the sore wrist he battled through. He led AL Center fielders in putouts (439), 2nd in range factor per game (2.75) behind Denard Span, and 3rd in assists (7). This was one of the more controversial awards of the night as Jones beat out Austin Jackson (DET) and Mike Trout (LAA).
The third Orioles Gold Glove award went to shortstop JJ Hardy. This is Hardy’s first Gold Glove honor of his career, and first by an Orioles shortstop since Cal Ripken Jr. in 1992. The sure-handed infielder led AL shortstops in games (158), fielding percentage (.992), assists (529), putouts (244), range factor per game (4.89). Hardy committed only 6 errors all season. This is the second consecutive year Hardy has led AL shortstops in fielding percentage. He beat out Elvis Andrus (TEX) and Brendan Ryan (SEA).
This marks the first time since 1998 the Orioles have had three Gold Glove winners (Palmeiro, Mussina, Alomar). It says a lot about a team that is defensively strong up the middle. Well deserved for the trio.
