HeraldNet: Ichiro now has enough Gold Gloves to field a team



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Mariners Blog

November 10, 2009

Ichiro now has enough Gold Gloves to field a team

Posted at 1:13 pm by By Kirby Arnold

When I was a kid, I always wanted eight brothers so my family could field a full baseball team. Luckily for Mom (or maybe me), I never voiced that too loudly.

In that sense, Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki now has everything but enough brothers. He won his ninth consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove today, meaning there would be one for everyone if his family was big enough to field a full lineup.

More importantly, this all-but-automatic honor for Suzuki is especially significant. It makes him the first player to win a Gold Glove in all of his nine big-league seaons, and he's the seventh outfielder in history to win at least nine Gold Gloves in his career.

It also gives the Mariners a Gold Glove winner in 23 straight seasons, the longest streak in the majors. PItcher Mark Langston started that run in 1987.

The Mariners actually produced two Gold Glove winners today. Adam Jones, drafted and groomed by the M's before they traded him to the Orioles in the Erik Bedard deal (how's that one looking?), won his first Gold Glove.

We don't get all the vote totals, but Jones won the center field award over Franklin Gutierrez, who pulled off a Gold Glove performance, in many people's opinions, in his first season as a Mariner in the vast center field spaces at Safeco Field. Offense tends to be the biggest factor in these awards, but not a lot separated Jones from Gutierrez statistically. Gutierrez batted .283 with 18 homers and 70 RBI, Jones batted .277 with 19 homers and 70 RBI. Jones' .792 OPS beat Gutierrez's .764. Defensively, Jones had a .986 fielding percentage with nine assists, Gutierrez a .985 fielding percentage with six assists.

Here are the American League Gold Glove winners, selected in a vote of major league managers and coaches:

Pitcher: Mark Buehrle, White Sox
Catcher: Joe Mauer, Twins
First base: Mark Teixeira, Yankees
Second base: Placido Polanco, Tigers
Third base: Evan Longoria, Rays
Shortstop: Derek Jeter, Yankees
Outfield: Adam Jones, Orioles
Outfield: Torii Hunter, Angels
Outfield: Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners

The National League Gold Glove winners will be announced on Wednesday.