Brewers: Who’s a finalist for the Gold Gloves in 2019?

Major League Baseball announced their finalists for the 2019 Gold Glove awards for defense. Only one Milwaukee Brewers player made the list, and he won’t be a surprise to fans.

After three Milwaukee Brewers were recognized as finalists for the 2018 Gold Glove awards, Major League Baseball wasn’t quite as kind in 2019. Only one Brewers player has a chance to earn a Gold Glove award this year.

Lorenzo Cain was named a finalist among center fielders for the 2019 Gold Glove awards. Voters will have to choose between Cain, Victor Robles, and Harrison Bader. Does Cain have a chance this year?

How good was Cain on defense in 2019?

Well, Cain was named as one of the top-three defenders at his position. That should indicate the kind of year he had on defense.

The numbers say that Cain wasn’t quite as good on defense in 2019 as he was in 2018, but he still had a great season in center field.

He earned a .994 fielding percentage in over 1,100 innings in center field, and he was only charged with two errors. He racked up five assists in 2019. That number is down from the 11 runners he threw out in 2018.

Of all the balls hit to Cain in 2019, 19 were rated with a ‘remote’ chance for a fielder to catch. This works out to a percentage of 1%-to-10% that a fielder can record an out. Cain managed to record outs on 15.8% of ‘remote’ chances. He also 77.8% of the nine balls hit his direction with an ‘unlikely’ rating. These come with a catch percentage of 11%-to-40%.

Cain flashed impressive range all year long, and added to his already long highlight reel.

What are the odds he wins?

Pretty good, actually.

A case can be made for Robles and Bader, but this is Cain’s second year in a row on the list of finalists for Gold Gloves in center field. He beat Robles in most fielding metrics. Bader does have a better arm than Cain, but Cain’s range in center field is greater.

Voters have familiarity with Cain, and there isn’t a clear winner in this race. Cain was deserving last year, and there’s a non-zero chance that he wins in 2019 as a make up. Voters are still human, and humans can rationalize most decisions if given enough time. However, that should diminish how good Cain has been in center field for the Milwaukee Brewers.