Pittsburgh Pirates: Jacob Stallings Wins Gold Glove Award

Sunday night Jacob Stallings became the first Pittsburgh Pirates catcher to take home a Gold Glove Award since Mike LaValliere in 1987

Sunday night Major League Baseball handed out Gold Glove Awards for the 2021 season. The Pittsburgh Pirates had a trio of finalists for Gold Glove Awards with Kevin Newman at shortstop, Bryan Reynolds in center field and Jacob Stallings at catcher.

While Newman and Reynolds came up short Stallings was named the National League Gold Glove Award winner at catcher. While it was the first Gold Glove that he has won in his career, one could argue Stallings also should have won the award in 2020. That does not matter now, though, what matters is that Stallings is a Gold Glover.

Stallings took home the award after leading all Major League catchers with a +21 Defensive Runs Saved during the 2021 season. This was tied with Carlos Correa, who won the American League Gold Glove Award at shortstop, for the best DRS in all of baseball, and was 9 more DRS than the next closest catcher.

Stat cast rated Stallings as a plus framer. Stallings excelled at blocking balls in the dirt as he did not allow a single passed ball all season. All of this led to Stallings posting a strong 16.4 dWAR and a 3.0 WAR, both of which were new career highs.

There is no doubt that Stalling was deserving of the Gold Glove Award. In fact, it would have been borderline criminal for anyone else to win the award following the season Stallings had. All of that said, with these awards often times being a popularity contest it was far from a given that Stallings would take home the gold.

In the end, the right decision was made and Stallings is now a Gold Glover. Congrats, Jacob!