October 23, 2020

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

Langley Blaze and Junior National Team graduate Tyler O’Neill has been named a finalist for a Gold Glove Award for National League left fielders.

The Maple Ridge, B.C. native is up against Shogo Akiyama, from the Cincinnati Reds, and David Peralta, from the Arizona Diamondbacks, for the honour. The finalists were announced by Rawlings yesterday and the winner will be unveiled on Nov. 3.

This is the first time that O'Neill has been a finalist. After playing parts of two seasons with the Cardinals in 2018 and 2019, O’Neill took over as the club’s starting left fielder this season. The 25-year-old Canuck had nine Defensive Runs Saved in 2020, which is four more than any other left fielder in the Senior Circuit.

He also fielded all 89 defensive chances he had at his position flawlessly, finishing with a 1.000 fielding percentage, and his range factor per nine innings improved to 2.33 from 1.26 in 2019.

Peralta is the reigning National League Gold Glove Award winner for left fielders.

While the Gold Gloves were first awarded in 1957, Rawlings has been highlighting the top-three defenders at each position since 2011. In the past, the winners have been determined by a vote from the 30 MLB managers and a select group of coaches, but seven years ago, Rawlings added a sabermetric component to the selection process.

In its press release on Thursday, Rawlings said that due to the abbreviated 2020 season, “the Award qualifications have been amended to rely solely on the SDI (SABR Defensive Index™) which draws on and aggregates two types of existing defensive metrics: those derived from batted ball location-based data and those collected from play-by-play accounts.”

To be considered for a Gold Glove Award in 2020, pitchers must have thrown 50 or more innings, catchers must have competed in at least 29 games and infielders/outfielders must have played 265 defensive innings.

For a full list of 2020 Rawlings Gold Glove Award finalists, click on this link.