Manny Machado named Gold Glove finalist

Orioles third baseman Manny Machado has been named a finalist for the 2015 Rawlings Gold Glove Award. Winners will be announced on Nov. 10.

Machado is the lone representative for the Orioles. He's joined by the Rangers' Adrian Beltre and the Rays' Evan Longoria.

Machado won a Gold Glove and Platinum Glove in 2013, but fell out of contention last year while limited to 82 games due to his recovery from surgery on his left knee and an injury to the right.

Machado committed a career-high 21 errors this season, including 19 in 488 chances at third base, but a large chunk of his miscues occurred earlier in the year. His defensive runs saved above average was 14. His 3.09 range factor per nine innings led all AL third basemen.

The Orioles have won three Gold Gloves in each of the past three seasons. They've had multiple winners in every season since 2011, but are down to one finalist this year.

Adam Jones, a four-time Gold Glove winner, wasn't named a finalist in center field this year. Jones won the last three, but the award will go to the Rays' Kevin Kiermaier, the Blue Jays' Kevin Pillar or the Angels' Mike Trout.

J.J. Hardy isn't included among the finalists at shortstop, also ending his streak of winning the award in three consecutive years. The AL trio consists of the Red Sox's Xander Bogaerts, the Royals' Alcides Escobar and the Yankees' Didi Gregorius.

Hardy struggled at the plate but not in the field, committing only three errors in 445 chances for a .993 percentage and making the most difficult plays appear routine. However, he began the season on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury and was limited to 114 games.

His exclusion won't sit well with the Orioles.

Matt Wieters has won two Gold Gloves, but he was behind the plate for only 55 games this season.

Lots of defensive metrics, including total fielding runs above average, defensive runs saved above average and range factor per nine innings, are used to determine the winners.

Seventeen different Orioles have earned a total of 70 Gold Gloves since the award was created in 1957, the second-highest total for any team - the Cardinals have 85 - and the most in the American League.

Here are the finalists in the American League:

Pitcher
Mark Buehrle - Blue Jays
Sonny Gray - Athletics
Dallas Keuchel - Astros

Catcher
Jason Castro - Astros
Russell Martin - Blue Jays
Salvador Perez - Royals

First base
Eric Hosmer - Royals
Mike Napoli - Rangers
Mark Teixeira - Yankees

Second base
Jose Altuve - Astros
Brian Dozier - Twins
Ian Kinsler - Tigers

Third base
Manny Machado - Orioles
Adrian Beltre - Rangers
Evan Longoria - Rays

Shortstop
Xander Bogaerts - Red Sox
Alcides Escobar - Royals
Didi Gregorius - Yankees

Left field
Yoenis Cespedes - Tigers
Brett Gardner - Yankees
Alex Gordon - Royals

Center field
Kevin Kiermaier - Rays
Mike Trout - Angels
Kevin Pillar - Blue Jays

Right field
Kole Calhoun - Angels
J.D. Martinez - Tigers
Josh Reddick - Athletics

Note: Alex Anthopoulos shocked the baseball world this morning by resigning as Blue Jays general manager, reportedly turning down a five-year extension.

Before any rumors start, Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette won't be making a lateral move to the Jays. They pursued him last winter as team president, a significant bump in title and pay. He was denied permission.

The Jays already have a new team president in Baltimore native Mark Shapiro. There's no Duquette story here.