St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado is one of the best defensive players ever to step on an MLB field.
That’s no exaggeration: any player who is capable of winning 10 Gold Gloves is in the conversation.
Perhaps more impressive is the fact that prior to 2023, Arenado had won the award in every one of his seasons in the league.
That streak, which started in 2013, will come to an end this year.
“Nolan Arenado is not a Gold Glove finalist this season, ending his 10-year streak of winning the award. He had won it every year of his career,” Talkin’ Baseball tweeted.
Nolan Arenado is not a Gold Glove finalist this season, ending his 10-year streak of winning the award. He had won it every year of his career pic.twitter.com/m60VJLSd4T
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 18, 2023
Age is starting to be a factor on Arenado’s range and defensive abilities: he is, after all, 32 years old and has been playing at the highest of levels for a decade.
Still, to call him a bad defender would be wrong: he returned good numbers this year, just not elite like he used to.
All things considered, the three nominees at the hot corner – Ke’Bryan Hayes, Ryan McMahon, and Austin Riley – all had better defensive seasons than Arenado and there is no shame in that.
The decline was noticeable, though.
Last year, the Cardinals slugger had 19 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and 14 Outs Above Average (OAA).
This year, he finished with 1 and 5, respectively.
It’s not out of the realm of possibilities that Arenado bounces back next year and clears the 10 threshold in both categories again.
For this year, however, he didn’t look like the elite defender we all know at the hot corner.
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