Rawlings Sporting Goods Company Inc., a subsidiary of Newell Brands (NYSE: NWL), revealed the winners for the 2016 Rawlings Gold Glove Award, honoring the best individual fielding performances at each position in the American League and National League.
Winners were unveiled during a live one-hour “Baseball Tonight – The 2016 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Announcement Show” on ESPN presented by Fanatics.
Fans can now vote for the Rawlings Platinum Glove Award presented by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) winner in each League on Rawlings.com. Fans can only select one player in each league among the 2016 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners to take home the “Best of the Best” honor, to be unveiled at the 2016 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Ceremony on Friday, November 11, 2016.
“The Rawlings Gold Glove Award continues to be one of the most iconic awards in all of sports,” said Mike Thompson, executive vice president of marketing for St. Louis-based Rawlings. “Only 341 total Major League players can call themselves ‘Rawlings Gold Glove Award’ winners, reaffirming this award platform as the definitive industry standard honoring defensive excellence at the highest level of baseball.”
Recognized as the best defensive players at their respective positions, this year’s class of honorees includes nine past winners of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award and nine first-time winners. Salvador Pérez of the Kansas City Royals and Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies are the consecutive award leaders with four straight awards, while Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers leads this year’s class with his fifth award.
Each manager and up to six coaches on his staff vote from a pool of qualified players in their League, and cannot vote for players on their own team. In 2013, Rawlings added a sabermetric component to the Rawlings Gold Glove Award selection process, as part of its new collaboration with the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). The SABR Defensive Index comprises approximately 25 percent of the overall selection total, while the managers’ and coaches’ vote continues to carry the majority.
In addition to recognizing this year’s winners at its ceremony in New York, Rawlings will honor Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Also, 10-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award-winning outfielder Al Kaline is going to be inducted into the Rawlings Gold Glove Award Hall of Fame as part of the night’s festivities.
A complete list of 2016 Gold Glove Award winners can be found here.
