Cubs: Jake Arrieta named finalist for NL Gold Glove

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We all knew Jake Arrieta would be a finalist for a postseason award or two, but was anybody expecting the Cubs ace would be a candidate for the National League Gold Glove award?

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Rawlings released three finalists at every position Thursday morning and Arrieta joined Gerrit Cole (Pittsburgh Pirates) and Zack Greinke (Los Angeles Dodgers) among NL pitchers.

 

 

It's interesting because Arrieta committed the most errors (4) of his career in 2015 and allowed opposing runners to steal 27 bases off him. However, FanGraphs tabbed Arrieta at +6 Defensive Runs Saved, a nine-run increase over his 2014 mark (-3 DRS). Cole also was credited with 6 DRS, while Greinke's mark was 9.

Defensive metrics are difficult to determine and only gets tougher when trying to evaluate pitchers, but Arrieta's DRS was tied for third-most in Major League Baseball, behind only Greinke and Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros.

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Here are the criteria for how the Gold Glove finalists were decided:

No other Cubs player was named as a finalist. No Cubs were listed as finalists in 2014, either.

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