Minnesota Twins Byron Buxton wins Fielding Bible Award
Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton won some well-deserved hardware on Monday when he was selected for a Fielding Bible Award
Multiple Minnesota Twins players will likely hear their names announced as winners of awards as the postseason comes to a close, but the first major one came on Monday as Byron Buxton won the Fielding Bible Award for center field.
What are the Fielding Bible Awards you ask? I’m glad you did…
The Award
The entire process is explained in more depth on the Fielding Bible site, but here are the basics:
- The Fielding Bible utilizes a 12-person panel to vote, 10 players listed on the ballot at each position
- All players are ranked together, National and American League, no separate award for each league
- Each player has to qualify at the position by playing a minimum number of games there
- Any tiebreakers are broken with the “plus/minus” system that is a Fielding Bible hallmark statistic
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The Fielding Bible in general is a site that has done well looking at different ways to measure and look at grading defense over the last decade or so. Within the statistical evaluation of defense, they are one of the leaders in pioneering concepts and measures to evaluate what is going on on the field in a measurable way.
Buxton’s win
Byron Buxton finished the voting with one 2nd place vote, and he received eleven 1st place votes. Only Mookie Betts was a unanimous winner, and Betts was the only one with more points on the voting system (10 points for a 1st place vote, 1 point for a 10th place vote).
Buxton was one of just two players that finished with 11 first place votes. Andrelton Simmons was the other.
Next: Buxton's 2017 highlight reel
Other position voting
One of the benefits of the way the Fielding Bible does their voting is that they publish all of the results. There were a Few other Minnesota Twins players who received votes. Joe Mauer finished 6th at first base (though 2nd among American League first basemen). Eddie Rosario tied for 10th among left fielders. Brian Dozier, Max Kepler, Jason Castro, and Kyle Gibson each were in the “others receiving votes” portion.