The Gold Glove is one of the most prestigious awards in the MLB, yet it is the least researched of all rewards and unsurprisingly there isn’t an award given out to undeserved players more. Many times, the player who deserves it will finally win it, however not for the year they deserve it. But how long can this go on fore?

Firstly, writers who traditionally pour over stats to make their picks for MVP or the Cy Young Award do not choose it. Managers and coaches choose this one – you would think this is a good thing as no one is closer to the game than them. But many managers use too much (bad) old school mentality and look simply at errors and when watching an opponent make a few good plays against his team. Does Derek Jeter, who usually makes diving plays because of his age and lack of range deserve the GG more than a player who is able to get to the ball without theatrics because of their speed? If you have enough range (something a few sabermetric stats will inform you) you save countless singles, but probably make a few more errors because of how many times you get to the ball. Aren’t the runs saved by getting to these balls preventing hits more important?

In 2011, New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner was the best OF in the AL. His range was incredible with 35 Total Zone Runs and a Defensive WAR of 3.2, both top of the AL. The three winners, Alex Gordon, Jacoby Ellsbury and Nick Markakis had the following dWAR: 0.8, 0.4 -0.4, respectively. That’s right, Markakis was negative! But, he made 0 errors.  Interestingly, Markakis deserved to win it his rookie year in 2006 but more household names were chosen.

This is constant in the history of baseball. The most egregious example was Rafeal Palmeiro winning the first base Gold Glove in 1999. Why? Because he played only 28 games at first base! How did he still win it? Simple manager indifference. Managers and coaches love voting the same people every year simply because they don’t want to take the time out to review the stats – it’s easier to go with the guy who won it the last few years, and not look at the little guy who has the best stats.

The Silver Slugger is also an award determined by coaches and managers, but being an offensive category the stats are easier to eyeball on the surface so it usually goes to more deserving players than the Gold Glove.

Still, I believe this can be fixed to some degree if this award is left to the writers. The managers and coaches are more important things to do than to pick it, and it seems based on the results that they don’t care.