Lucky #11 on 11/11
Actually, it has nothing to do with luck...
Ryan Zimmerman is a deserving recipient of his first Rawlings Gold Glove award, which was announced by Major League Baseball on Wednesday afternoon.
The first National to win the award, Zimmerman is the second Washington based player to win. Senators catcher Earl Battey earned one in 1960.
"Winning the Rawlings Gold Glove has always been important to me, as I take a lot of pride in my defense," Zimmerman said in a prepared statement.
"When I was drafted by the Nationals, I was known as a defensive player first and there was a belief that my bat would mature with time and experience. But the core of my game has always been defense, so today is a special day."
What you know with your eyes - from watching Zimmerman man the hot corner night after night at Nationals Park and on MASN - you can also calculate:
This season, he led NL third basemen in total chances (MLB-best 459), assists (MLB-high 325), range factor per game (2.97) and games started (153).
His Ultimate Zone Rating (18.1), which measures range runs, double play runs, and error runs combined ranked third of all position players in baseball.
And he was named ESPN's first-ever Web Gem Champion for those diving catches and sparkling nightly plays.
Congrats to Ryan Zimmerman on his well deserved award. Here's hoping his shelf has room for many more!
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I hadn't made the 11/11 connection. Interesting. Congrats to Zimm on his well-earned Glove Glove. Hope it's the first of many!
He also has a Fielding Bible award on his shelf for this year. May need to shore that thing up! :-)
Absolutely correct that Zimm was deserving. And nice job noting his UZR. For his career it's +12 runs per 150 games, which is very good.
At least it wasn't David Wright again...Glad for Zimmy...also like Kevin Kouzmanoff for future years.
...and Zimm takes the silver as well. Congrats to him!