Biggest snubs, best picks among Gold Glove selections

— -- This has always been one of my favorite articles to write each season, but since the inclusion of the SABR Defensive Index (SDI) in the Gold Glove voting process, it has become much more difficult. Voters aren't making the huge mistakes -- such as Rafael Palmeiro winning the first base Gold Glove in 1999 despite playing just 28 games at first base, or Derek Jeter winning five times despite his poor defensive range -- that they used to. Now I tend to find that when I disagree with a selection, I also understand the justification for the other guy winning.

This season, voters may have done their best job yet. Across the board, the Gold Glove winners are in sync with the positional leaders in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), the Baseball Info Solutions (BIS) comprehensive measure of player defense. In several cases, selections went against the established pick, which was particularly gratifying.

I'll touch on my favorite winners, but first I'll go through the biggest snubs, even if none of the picks quite earn the term.

Biggest snubs

It isn't quite fair to say that Salvador Perez?of the Kansas City Royals earned the Gold Glove based on his reputation. This is his fourth straight award, but Perez has been consistently good at his two primary defensive skills of limiting opposing baserunners and blocking pitches thrown in the dirt over that period. This year, Perez actually set a new personal best with a 42.9 percent caught stealing rate. He is now one of just five catchers to top 40 percent in a season with 40 or more attempts against him in the last five seasons.

But while Perez excels with his two elite defensive skills, he is actually a liability in drawing extra strikes with his pitch framing. He has cost the Royals runs with his framing every season since his 2011 debut, and this season he cost them eight runs in that respect, which was third worst in the AL.

Part of the reluctance of voters to rely on framing as an accepted measure of catcher defense is the extreme high and low totals of some public framing systems. But BIS' Strike Zone Runs Saved distributes credit and penalty among the catcher, umpire, pitcher and batter, and it adjusts for factors including the pitch command that keep the yearly range from the best to the worst framing catcher at around 25 runs. That still makes framing the most impactful component of catcher DRS.

Still, it would have been nice to see James McCann, who limited stolen bases just as much as Perez but did not hurt the Detroit Tigers with his framing, to win it this season.

It is bad luck that Ian Kinsler and Dustin Pedroia both play in the AL because there is little doubt they were the best two defensive second basemen in baseball this season. In a perfect world, one of the two of them could have snagged the National League award since there wasn't a standout choice in the senior circuit -- at least if you ignore Javier Baez. His?limited total of 383 innings at the position made him a noncontender, despite his impressive, NL-leading 11 Runs Saved at the position for the Chicago Cubs.

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It's possible that Harrison is still thought of as a super-utility player, which could have hurt his chances, but his 1,077.2 innings at second base were practically identical to Panik's 1,081. He is a full-time second baseman, and as such, he deserved the award a little bit more than Panik did.

There was a handful of other Gold Glove selections that did not quite match the DRS standings, but it's pretty difficult to make the case that any of those picks was a bad choice. Andrelton Simmons bested Francisco Lindor at shortstop, 18 DRS to 17, but lost the AL award to him.

I'm curious whether Simmons will get the Michael Jordan treatment in the Gold Gloves going forward. He has been so dominant defensively that he could become boring to vote for, especially with the influx of exciting and talented young shortstops entering the game. This season, I suspect Simmons' thumb injury that cost him six weeks had more to do with the loss than anything.

Like Simmons, Chris Davis saved his team one more run than the winner at his position, Mitch Moreland?of the Texas Rangers. Davis made his biggest contribution to the Baltimore Orioles by scooping 39 throws in the dirt at first base. That was the most at the position in the AL and 13 more than Moreland.

However, Moreland did have a slightly higher rate of success in scooping poor throws than Davis did. It might not be the case that Davis is the better fielder as much as his skills were more needed by the Orioles, whose infielders made his glove more important with their poor throws.

Best selections

The voters made great selections pretty much across the board, but I'm most impressed by a few that went against players' reputations.

Yadier Molina had a stranglehold on the NL Gold Glove at catcher, winning all eight of the awards since 2007. The voters did a great job of recognizing that Molina took a step back this season, in particular in his defense of the running game. Molina had a career-worst 20.2 percent caught-stealing rate. It was only the second time in his career that he was below 30 percent in a season.

Buster Posey was a better choice. He led all catchers with 23 runs saved, and he was the only NL catcher who saved his team runs in all aspects of catcher defense that BIS measures: pitch-framing, pitch-blocking, game-calling and stolen base and bunt defense.

I'm also excited to see Ian Kinsler finally win his first Gold Glove award. He finished tied with Pedroia for the most DRS among second basemen, so he wasn't a clear-cut choice. However, Kinsler has finished either first or tied for first in DRS at the position each of the last three seasons and top five in seven of the last eight seasons. Kinsler has easily the most DRS among second basemen over that time frame and only trails three players -- Simmons, Molina and Jason Heyward -- in DRS at any position since 2009. He was due to be recognized for his exceptional defensive play.