Consider this an additional trio of 1-run losses.
Three members of the Cincinnati Reds were finalists for Rawlings Gold Glove Awards following their stellar 2014 defensive seasons. In a very 2014-esque way, none of them came home with the award at their positions. Brandon Phillips, Zack Cozart, and Billy Hamilton were key cogs in a Reds defense that saved far more runs on defense than any other in baseball according to FanGraphs, yet each fell just short in the convoluted process to other talented National League candidates.
They're basically the 2004 Detroit Pistons of defense, it seems.
Phillips was seeking his 5th GG at 2B, but he lost out to D.J. LeMahieu of the Colorado Rockies, likely due to his 6 week stint on the DL that cost him a big portion of the most visible stretch of the season. Cozart lost out to Atlanta Braves SS wunderkind Andrelton Simmons, who took home another trophy to honor the ridiculousness he displays day in and day out at the most important defensive position in baseball.
Hamilton's loss is the most curious, however. Juan Lagares of the New York Mets took home the award as the NL's best defensive CF, and while he admittedly plays a fantastic defense in the expansive Citi Field depths, there's not a thing in the world that can convince me that Billy didn't play the best outfield defense in baseball in this, his rookie season.
Juan Lagares fans, however, don't appear to agree with me.
@redreporter you are shot if you say Lagares isn't the best do u even watch baseball like really your a fake fan cant even argue this
— jaun lagares (@Hosmrkxkfmdlc) November 5, 2014For a complete listing of the 2014 Gold Glove winners, you can click here. Or here. Or here. One of those is surely the correct link. Surely.