Bret Boone made twice as many errors this year as he did last, but that didn’t sway major league managers and coaches in their view of his defense.
Or Boone’s, for that matter.
The Seattle Mariners’ second baseman won his third straight Gold Glove and fourth overall Tuesday when results of the vote were announced. Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki also won a Gold Glove, his fourth straight.
Boone got the honor even though he made 14 errors and his fielding percentage, .978, ranked seventh best among regular second basemen in the American League.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Boone said. “You know what? It’s one positive thing to come out of a tough, tough year.”
But did he deserve it? Boone says yes, and then explained why.
“Sometimes you make more errors than the previous year and you might have had a better defensive year,” he said. “If you want to be good, I think you take chances. Ozzie Smith had some high-error years but it didn’t mean he had bad years. It means he put it all on the line and was willing to take a chance at the tough, tough play. There isn’t any foolproof way to judge it.”
Boone won a Gold Glove in 1998 when he played for the Cincinnati Reds and in 2002 and 2003 with the Mariners. In each of those years, he never made more than nine errors or had a fielding percentage less than .988.
Six other regular second basemen in the AL were better numbers-wise – Oakland’s Marco Scutaro, 995 fielding percentage (three errors in 546 chances); Cleveland’s Ron Belliard, .981 (14 errors, 719 chances); Baltimore’s Bip Roberts, .988 (8 errors, 669 chances); Toronto’s Orlando Hudson, .984 (12 errors, 737 chances); Anaheim’s Adam Kennedy, 982 (12 errors, 655 chances); and Boston’s Mark Bellhorn, .980 (11 errors, 549 chances).
Suzuki finished second among American League outfielders with a .992 fielding percentage, committing three errors in 387 chances. He also ranked third in the league with 12 assists. Suzuki also won seven straight Gold Glove awards with the Orix Blue Wave in Japan before he joined the Mariners in 2001.
Other AL winners announced Tuesday were pitcher Kenny Rogers of the Texas Rangers, catcher Ivan Rodriguez of the Detroit Tigers, third baseman Eric Chavez of the A’s, shortstop Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, and outfielders Torii Hunter of the Minnesota Twins and Vernon Wells of the Blue Jays.
Minor league MVPs: Outfielder Shin-soo Choo and pitcher Felix Hernandez were named the Mariners’ minor league most valuable players, the team announced Tuesday.
Choo, playing for the Class AA San Antonio Missions, finished fifth in the Texas League with a .315 batting average, second with 163 hits, second with 89 runs and tied for second with seven triples. He also was third with 84 RBI and 40 stolen bases.
Hernandez, just 18, played at both San Antonio and Class A Inland Empire, and put together a combined 14-4 record with a 2.95 ERA and 172 strikeouts.
Other MVPs around the organization are first baseman and pitcher Randy Williams at Class AAA Tacoma, Choo and pitcher Rich Dorman at San Antonio, outfielder Jon Nelson and pitcher Bobby Livingston at Inland Empire, outfielder Wladimir Balentien and pitchers Ryan Feierabend and Thomas Oldham at Class A Wisconsin, shortstop Oswaldo Navarro and pitcher Shawn Nottingham at Class A Everett, and catcher Daniel Santin and pitcher Roman Martinez at rookie Peoria.
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