Detroit Tigers: Jose Iglesias snubbed, not named Gold Glove finalist at shortstop

Detroit Tigers fans saw an excellent defensive season from Jose Iglesias in 2017. The shortstop should have been in the running for a Gold Glove, but wasn’t named as a finalist.

Detroit Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias probably would have been a shoe-in, or at the very least a front runner for the Gold Glove at shortstop if it weren’t for Andrelton Simmons.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim shortstop is likely the runaway favorite for the award after notching a 22.6 defensive runs above average, a +32 DRS and an 18.2 UZR/150 in 1,369.2 defensive innings at shortstop.

Simmons paced all Major League position players in both defensive runs above average and DRS, while finishing just 0.7 off Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts for a share of the league lead in UZR/150.

Jose Iglesias was probably always going to finish behind the Anaheim after the latter’s outstanding season.

Related Story: Should the Tigers sell high on Mikie Mahtook?

However, Detroit’s shortstop should have at least deserved some recognition in the voting for end-of-season hardware.

That won’t be the case, at least where the Gold Glove is concerned.

Rawlings Sports announced the Gold Glove finalists on Twitter Thursday.

More from Detroit Tigers News

• The Detroit Tigers must cut their losses and release Jonathan Schoop
• Detroit Tigers: Garrett Hill’s new role and changed delivery are excellent
• Detroit Tigers: Joe Jiménez has rebounded in 2022
• Detroit Tigers: Is it finally time to move the fences in at Comerica Park?
• Detroit Tigers: Riley Greene continues to impress with his performance

Among the many tweets announcing the finalists at each position in each league was the tweet announcing the three finalists for the Gold Glove at shortstop in the American League.

Lo and behold, Iglesias was not included.

Simmons obviously was, as was Cleveland’s Francisco Lindor and Texas’ Elvis Andrus.

Iglesias’ omission seems odd, at least from a statistical standpoint.

Andrelton Simmons: 22.6 Def, +32 DRS and 18.2 UZR/150.

Francisco Lindor: 12.9 Def, +5 DRS and 6.6 UZR/150.

Elvis Andrus: 4.6 Def, +4 DRS and -2.0 UZR/150.

And here’s Iglesias’ stat line.

Jose Iglesias: 14.3 Def, +4 DRS and a 10.7 UZR/150.

Iglesias also ranked fourth among all Major League position players period in Def (defensive runs above average).

Only Simmons, Washington third baseman Anthony Rendon and Cincinnati catcher Tucker Barnhart had a higher Def stat.

So yeah, make sense of that one.

Admittedly, Iglesias played in fewer defensive innings than the trio, but not by much.

Simmons checked in with 1,369.2 defensive innings, Lindor was at 1,377.0 defensive innings, Andrus was at 1,365.1 while Iglesias finished with 1,116.1.

Still that deficit isn’t too small to be a deterrent, especially when considering Andrus finished with a negative UZR/150 number.

Obviously UZR/150 is just one piece of a larger puzzle concerning defensive metrics.

However, it is worth noting that seven different shortstops in the American League, as well as seven in the National League, finished with a higher UZR/150 than Andrus.

Next: Tigers should make this trade with Red Sox right now

So after a season in which Detroit Tigers fans saw the team finish with 98 losses—the most in the league and the most in franchise history since 2003—fans were dealt another loss, this one more proverbial, on Thursday, as Jose Iglesias wasn’t named a finalist for the Gold Glove at his position.