Orioles Win Three Gold Gloves

On Election Night, Major League Baseball announced it’s Gold Glove winners. I see what they did there.

The Orioles had three players up for the award:  shortstop J.J. Hardy, center fielder Adam Jones, and right fielder Nick Markakis. The 2014 Gold Glove award is notable, because MLB no longer uses the “traditional” formula for selecting winners. In the past, selections were determined solely by the votes of managers and coaches. Starting in 2013, the decision factors in certain sabermetric components, care of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

I take that to mean there’s a Ouija board involved now.

All three Orioles took home hardware, but the real winner in all this is clearly Nick Markakis’ agent. Team Markakis and the Orioles are reportedly negotiating a four-year deal, and a second Gold Glove certainly can’t hurt the player’s argument. Markakis’ defensive prowess is a topic of serious debate among fans, analysts, and mathematicians. Does he take poor routes? Is his range limited? Does he make plays that look difficult only because he lacks the foot speed to make them look easy?

With this Gold Glove award, these questions can be answered with a definitive “maybe.”
In the meantime, here are some highlights from your hometown Gold Glove winners: