Masyn Winn caught the first of what his teammates predict will be many defensive honors in his career with the announcement Thursday that he won an award that has the range to cover both leagues.
Winn, the Cardinals' rookie shortstop, was named the Fielding Bible's winner at his position.
The Fielding Bible Awards are in their 19th season of bringing together a panel of baseball evaluators, writers, and statisticians to look at the advanced metrics and other information to determine the top fielder at each position. One player is selected for all nine spots on the field and an additional player is awarded a "multi-position" honor.
The Cardinals have won the most Fielding Bible honors of any team since they began, but Winn is the first Cardinal to win at shortstop.
In the panel's voting on shortstop, Winn finished ahead of two players he is also jousting with for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award given the best National League shortstop.
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The top five at shortstop for the Fielding Bible were:
1. Winn
2. Ezequiel Tovar, Rockies
3. Dansby Swanson, Cubs
4. Brayan Rocchio, Guardians
5. Zach Neto, Angels
The edge Winn had for the Fielding Bible honor is the same as the one that made his case to become only the second Cardinals rookie ever to win a Gold Glove Award. He leads all shortstops in Defensive Runs Saved with plus-14, and is one of the leaders in DRS at any position in the National League.Â
From : "Winn was MLB’s premier shortstop when it came to turning double plays. In fact, his 6 Double Play Runs Saved is tied with Andrelton Simmons for the most in a season by a shortstop since Runs Saved was first tracked in 2003."
The other Fielding Bible winners for this season were:
Catcher -- Patrick Bailey, Giants
First base -- Matt Olson, Braves
Second base -- Andres Gimenez, Guardians
Third base -- Matt Chapman, Giants
Left field -- Riley Greene, Tigers
Center field -- Daulton Varsho, Blue Jays
Right field -- Wilyer Abreu, Red Sox
Multi-position -- Varsho, Blue Jays
Other than Winn, the only Cardinal to also receive top-five support at any position in the majors was Nolan Arenado at third base. He has won several Fielding Bible awards in his career to go with 10 consecutive Gold Glove awards and the Platinum Glove as Rawlings' top overall fielder. This season, Arenado was one of the leaders in DRS for the second half at third or any position, and that charge also merited him support as a finalist for the Gold Glove award in the NL at third base.
Gold Glove winners will be announced Nov. 3.
Varsho also won the Defensive Player of the Year, per Fielding Bible, finishing ahead of Giants catcher Bailey and Guardians brilliant infielder Gimenez. No position had a unanimous winner, per Sports Info Solution, the company that runs the voting and provides advanced defensive statistics for teams, fans, and voters throughout the season.Â