The Gold Glove is worth it’s weight in lead

Two days ago the 2015 AL and NL Gold Glove winners were announced.

The three National League candidates were Brandon Crawford, Adeiny Hechavarria and Andrelton Simmons.

The three American League candidates were Didi Gregorius, Xander Bogaerts and Alcides Escobar.

The winner of the NL Gold Glove was Brandon Crawford.
Andrelton Simmons, the winner of the previous two Gold Gloves, had vastly the better numbers compared to the winner:

988 fielding percentage, 235 putouts, 444 assists, 4.62 range factor

Crawford on his turn had the following numbers: 979 fielding percentage, 191 putouts, 427 assists, 4.41 range factor (Thanks to Datchenko Willems for the numbers).

How can someone with the worst numbers of the three candidates win a Gold Glove?

In the American League, Alcides Escobar won the hardware. His numbers are .980 fielding percentage, 217 putouts, 417 assists and a range factor of 4,28.

Compared to him, Xander Bogaerts had the following numbers: .984 fielding percentage, 236 putouts, 429 assists and a range factor of 4,26.

Through the whole season Didi Gregorius’ numbers were worse than the two mentioned above, but in a previous article I explained why. So I can imagine why Didi did not win the 2015 Gold Glove, even though his numbers in the second half of the season were a lot better.

But even when Xander Bogaerts’ numbers are better (except for the range factor), Escobar was awarded the Gold Glove.

Isn’t it just time to look to the numbers alone? It appears to me that the “vote” for this award is also a kind of popularity contest.

When internet did not exist yet, I bought previews on the seasons. In one of them, I don’t know if it was the one from Petersen’s or the one from the Sporting News, there was an article with the head: “The Gold Glove is worth it’s weight in lead”. I think that says it all.