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Sport | Baseball |
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League | Major League Baseball |
Awarded for | Best defensive player for each fielding position in the league |
Presented by | SIS (formerly Sports Info Solutions) |
History | |
First award | 2006 |
Most wins |
A Fielding Bible Award recognizes the best defensive player for each fielding position in Major League Baseball (MLB) based on "statistical analysis, the eye test, and any other factors that [panelists] wish to utilize." [1] John Dewan and SIS (formerly Sports Info Solutions, and earlier, Baseball Info Solutions) conduct the annual selection process, which commenced in 2006. [2] The awards are voted on by a panel of 10 to 15 sabermetrically inclined journalists and bloggers. [3] [1] The awards have historically been announced before the Gold Glove Awards, the traditional measurement of fielding excellence. [4] Dewan wrote that this award cannot equal the prestige of the Gold Glove, which started 50 years earlier, but it provides an alternative. [5]
In 2006, John Dewan issued The Fielding Bible, a 241 page book, [6] based on analysis of every ball put into play in during the 2005 season, resulting in rankings at each defensive position for all regular players in Major League Baseball (MLB). [7] Dewan, with co-authors, has issued several additional volumes of the book, most recently The Fielding Bible, Volume V in 2020. [8] Dewan and other panelists have annually gone through a ranking process for each defensive position, with the players judged to be the best at each position being named the Fielding Bible Award winners for the MLB season in question.
Dewan felt that statistics in addition to visual observation and subjective judgment are integral in determining the best defensive players. The Fielding Bible Award attempts to address the deficiencies Dewan saw with the Gold Glove Award, previously the only organized subjective judgment of fielding. The voting for the Fielding Bible Awards are for the entire MLB, and not separated between the National League and the American League; playing defense was not perceived to be any different between the two leagues. The voters select the best defensive player at each position with the best player given 10 points, the second best nine points and so forth. [9] From the award's inception, the specific outfield positions have been picked individually instead of choosing three generic outfielders, [10] a practice employed by the Gold Glove Awards from 1961 to 2010. [11] Each voter selects 10 players for each position. The candidates for each position are defined beforehand to eliminate the possibility of a vote going to a player who was not really playing the position. [9] (Rafael Palmeiro won a 1999 AL Gold Glove as a first baseman despite being primarily a designated hitter and appearing in only 28 games at first base that season.) [12] The voting for awards is summarized and published for each position, identifying who each panelist voted for. This aims to instill accountability among the voters and provide insight into the process to the public. [9]
In 2014, an award was added to honor a player who plays multiple positions (often referred to as a utility player), with a minimum of 600 innings played at any position but no more than 70 percent of those innings at a specific position. [13] Beginning with the 2023 awards, the announced list of winners now also includes one player named as an overall Defensive Player of the Year. [14]
Voters use sabermetrics to account for a defenders' range. The traditional standard of a high fielding percentage could be impacted by a player who does not make many errors but also does not get to many balls. [15]
Members of the award's voting panel have included Dewan, sabermetric pioneer Bill James, and writers Peter Gammons, NBC Sports' Joe Posnanski, SB Nation editor Rob Neyer, and ESPN analyst Doug Glanville. [16] [17] [18] The 2024 panel's 15 members included Tyler Kepner of The Athletic , Eduardo Pérez of ESPN, and Bobby Scales of the Detroit Tigers Radio Network. [1]
There have been some major differences between the player selections made for the Fielding Bible Awards and the Gold Glove Awards. [19] [20] [21] The Boston Globe writer Peter Abraham said the Fielding Bible Awards "are far more accurate (and accountable)" than the Gold Glove awards since statistics are used along with the opinions of the expert panel. The Gold Gloves are selected by managers and coaches that may have seen a player as few as six times all season. [22] Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times said the votes for the Gold Gloves rely largely on a player's past reputation. [23] Jeff Wilson of The Southern Illinoisan believes that Gold Glove results are unduly influenced by a player's offensive prowess. [15] Derek Jeter, winner of multiple Gold Gloves, believes that many defensive factors cannot be quantified. [24] Rustin Dodd of The Kansas City Star noted that people "point out the primitive nature of defensive stats — even if that's more perception now than reality." [25]
In 2013, Gold Glove organizers partnered with the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) to add a sabermetric component to its vote. Afterwards, Jay Jaffe of Sports Illustrated wrote that the Gold Gloves "appear to have significantly closed the gap on their more statistically-driven counterparts." [26]
C | Catcher |
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1B | First baseman |
2B | Second baseman |
3B | Third baseman |
SS | Shortstop |
LF | Left fielder |
CF | Center fielder |
RF | Right fielder |
P | Pitcher |
MP | Multi-position |
DPOY | Defensive Player of the Year |
Name(#) | Name of winner (# times won if repeat winner) |
† | Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum |
George William James is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books about baseball history and statistics. His approach, which he named sabermetrics after the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), scientifically analyzes and studies baseball, often through the use of statistical data, in an attempt to determine why teams win and lose.
The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual fielding performances at each fielding position in both the National League (NL) and the American League (AL). The Gold Glove is widely considered one of the most prestigious defensive awards in baseball.
Jeffery Adam Everett is an American former professional baseball shortstop and third baseman. He played college baseball for both the NC State Wolfpack and South Carolina Gamecocks. He was drafted in the first round of the 1998 Major League Baseball draft and established himself for his defensive prowess as the starting shortstop for the Houston Astros in 2003. Everett continued his involvement in baseball as a roving infield instructor for the Astros minor league system, and was named bench coach for the Astros on September 1, 2014.
Peter Gammons is an American media personality and recipient of the J. G. Taylor Spink Award for outstanding baseball writing, given by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
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Every year, John Dewan and Baseball Info Solutions conduct their own process, the Fielding Bible Awards.
Voted on by a 10-person panel that includes Bill James, Peter Gammons, Joe Posnanski, Rob Neyer, and John Dewan as well as the entire video scouting team at Baseball Info Solutions, the award sets out to recognize the best defensive player at each position, regardless of league.
The awards have historically been announced before the Gold Glove awards, which are the traditional barometer for fielding excellence.
The three outfield positions are judged separately instead of simply choosing three outfielders.
And in The Fielding Bible Awards, a vote by various sabermetrically inclined journalists and bloggers, Zimmerman narrowly lost out to Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria (voters didn't differentiate between leagues).
From a news release, here's the makeup of the group that gave Bourn his award in a statistically-guided decision as Bourn is figured to have saved the Astros 16 runs.
There is a profound disconnect between those who vote for the Gold Glove Awards, Major League Baseball managers and coaches, and those who vote for the Fielding Bible Awards, 10 expert baseball observers, some of whom favor a sabermetrics approach to the game.
These awards are far more accurate (and accountable) than the Gold Gloves in that statistics are employed along with the opinions of a large panel of experts.
Unlike the Gold Glove awards, chosen by coaches and based largely on reputation, the Fielding Bible Awards are picked by a panel of experts relying heavily on new-wave statistical analysis for defense.
Jeter — like many players — dismisses defensive statistics as meaningless because of the many factors that cannot be quantified.