The Gold Glove Award finalists were released Monday afternoon with two Detroit Tigers showing up on the list. Austin Jackson and Alex Avila, who was recently named the American League's best catcher by Sporting News, will find out their fates at 10 p.m. on Tuesday night in an award special being broadcast on ESPN.
Avila is joined by Baltimore Orioles catcher Matt Wieters and A.J. Pierzynski of the Chicago White Sox, meaning last year's Gold Glove winner -- Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins -- will not be repeating 2011. Jackson is joined by Boston Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury and Peter Bourjos of the Los Angeles Angels.
As SB Nation's Rob Neyer notes, the center fielder position is loaded.
You can't go wrong with any of these guys; as we knew coming in, Rawlings' decision to switch to one award for each outfield position is going to leave some outstanding center fielders out in the cold.
One player that isn't listed that probably should have been is Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Kurt Mensching from Bless You Boys makes the case:
The surprise to me was Jhonny Peralta being left out. I'm not saying he shouldn't have been left out. When I think of defensive wizards at short stop Peralta is not on my top three list. But generally speaking, we think of the Gold Gloves as going to guys who have high fielding percentages who hit the ball well. Peralta fulfills both of those requirements. Heck, he actually ranks pretty high by UZR/150. So... you know what ... maybe Peralta should be in the final three after all!
Tune in to ESPN Tuesday night to find out the final results.