Brewers: Kolten Wong Robbed Of Third Straight Gold Glove

The Milwaukee Brewers signed Kolten Wong to play second base this past winter partly because he was the two-time reigning Gold Glove winner at the keystone. He was up for a 3rd straight Gold Glove this year.

However, the powers that be that vote for the Gold Glove award decided not to give him the award and instead gave the Gold Glove to his replacement in St. Louis, Tommy Edman.

While voters may have gotten used to simply voting for the Cardinals second baseman the last few years, they apparently didn’t get the memo that Wong now plays in Milwaukee.

Kolten Wong was absolutely robbed of his third straight Gold Glove award at second base for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2021.

While Tommy Edman did have a good defensive season at second base, Kolten Wong was plenty deserving of the Gold Glove this year.

Wong was tied or better than Edman is most defensive metrics.

Both Wong and Edman had 6 Defensive Runs Saved this year, but Wong had a better UZR (4.7 to 1.2), UZR/150 (5.6 to 2.0) Revised Zone Rating (.799 to .793), and Range Runs Above Average (1.7 to 1.1). If you count errors as an important stat, Wong had just 2 errors all season while Edman had 5.

What may have been Wong’s undoing was his three separate IL stints this year that prevented him from getting the accumulating stats that Edman was able to get. Edman had 100 more defensive innings at 2B this year than Wong. The best ability is availability, and Edman had that more than Wong this year.

The Cardinals somehow walked away with 5 Gold Gloves on the night, getting the awards at first base, second base, third base, left field, and right field.

The Brewers had two finalists, and walked away empty handed. Jackie Bradley Jr.also came up short in centerfield to another Cardinal in Harrison Bader. Of course, Bradley’s struggles offensively led to him not making it into the lineup as much in 2021. Even though this is a defensive award, offensive success does help and Bradley had none of that this year. If he hit better, he likely would’ve had more than just 915 defensive innings in 117 games.

Lorenzo Cain remains the last Brewers player to win a Gold Glove, when he did so for his play in center field in 2019. Milwaukee prided itself on defense and run prevention in 2021, yet they were not able to get a single Gold Glove this year.