Rendon comes up short in Gold Glove voting to Arenado

By Mark Zuckerman

Nationals

November 08, 2016, 9:38am

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Anthony Rendon is widely regarded as one of the best defensive third basemen in the National League. But he's not regarded as being better than Nolan Arenado, and so this evening Rendon was left to watch as his counterpart from the Rockies won the Gold Glove Award over him.

Arenado was the choice by NL managers and coaches who submitted their votes at the end of the regular season, the fourth straight Gold Glove victory for the 25-year-old who has only been in the big leagues four seasons.

Rendon joined the Dodgers' Justin Turner as finalists for this year's award along with Arenado. The Nationals third baseman enjoyed a strong season in the field; he committed only nine errors in 382 chances, posted a Defensive Runs Saved rating of +8 and had an Ultimate Zone Rating of 10.6 (second-best among all NL third basemen to only Turner's 14.1 rating).

But Arenado has both the reputation and the stats to back up his preferred status as the league's best defensive third baseman. The Colorado star had a Defensive Runs Saved rating of +20, an Ultimate Zone Rating of 6.2 and was charged with 13 errors in 490 chances.

Rendon was the only member of the Nationals to be named a Gold Glove Award finalist this season.