Photo Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

Photo Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

It may be surprising to the casual viewer, but Chase Utley has never won a Gold Glove award. That may change this year, however, as Utley is one of three finalists for the NL Gold Glove award at second base. He’s up for the award along with Brandon Phillips and the Rockies’ DJ LeMahieu. As Todd Zolecki points out, Utley has the lowest fielding percentage of the finalists (.985 to LeMahieu’s .991 and Phillips’ .996), but Chase fares a bit better from a SABR perspective.

The SABR statistic UZR is supposed to quantify how many runs were saved by a fielder’s fielding throughout a season. It includes the metrics of outfield arm runs saved, double-play runs saved, range runs saved, and error runs saved. In general, according to FanGraphs, the UZR of a Gold Glove caliber player would be 15+, while a great fielder would have a 10+ UZR, an above average player have 5+, and so on. Phillips’ UZR in 2014 was 8.1, Utley’s was 8.2, and LeMahieu’s was 10.7. That would seem to indicate a trophy for LeMahieu, but it’s worth pointing out that Phillips’ 2008 Gold Glove campaign had him with a UZR of 12.2 while Utley turned in a 18.3.

Gold Glove winners will be announced next month.