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Andrew Benintendi and Michael A. Taylor each won their first Gold Glove Award on Sunday night as Rawlings Sporting Goods announced its winners on ESPN. Whit Merrifield and Salvador Perez were also up for Gold Glove Awards, but fell short. Marcus Semien of the Blue Jays won the award at second base and Sean Murphy of the Athletics won it at catcher. Benintendi and Taylor were each in their first season with the Royals.
A Kansas City Royals player has won a Gold Glove Award in each of the last 11 seasons, the best mark in baseball.
— Josh Vernier (@JoshVernier610) November 8, 2021
The closest active streak belongs to the Cardinals. (4) #Royals
Andrew Benintendi tied for the lead among all American League left fielders in Defensive Runs Saved, winning honors over Randy Arozarena of the Rays and Lourdes Gurriel, Jr of the Blue Jays. It is the fifth consecutive year a Royals left fielder has won the award - Alex Gordon won the previous four.
Michael Taylor led all outfielders in Ultimate Zone Rating and led all centerfielders in Defensive Runs Above Average, while finishing second among all players in Defensive Saved. He is the first Royals centerfielder to win the award since Willie Wilson in 1980.
Carlos Correa of the Astros won the award at shortstop, while Nicky Lopez, who led all AL shortstop in Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Above Average, was not a finalist.
The Gold Glove Awards winners are selected by the managers of the 30 MLB teams and up to six of each team’s respective coaches. Each manager and coach vote from a pool of qualified players in their League and cannot vote for players from their own team. A defensive metric - The SABR Defensive Index (SDI) - comprises approximately 25 percent of the overall selection total.
American League Gold Glove winners
C - Sean Murphy, Athletics
1B - Yuli Gurriel, Astros
2B - Marcus Semien, Blue Jays
SS - Carlos Correa, Astros
3B - Matt Chapman, Athletics
LF - Andrew Benintendi, Royals
CF - Michael A. Taylor, Royals
RF - Joey Gallo, Rangers/Yankees
P - Dallas Keuchel, White Sox
National League Gold Glove winners
C - Jacob Stallings, Pirates
1B - Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals
2B - Tommy Edman, Cardinals
SS - Brandon Crawford, Giants
3B - Nolan Arenado, Cardinals
LF - Tyler O’Neill, Cardinals
CF - Harrison Bader, Cardinals
RF - Adam Duvall, Marlins/Braves
P - Max Fried, Braves