All three Cardinals' Gold Glove finalists snubbed in voting

The St. Louis Cardinals had three players nominated as finalists for the Rawlings Gold Glove this year: Masyn Winn at shortstop, Nolan Arenado at third base, and Brendan Donovan for the utility spot.

Brendan Donovan saw significant time this year in both corner outfield spots along with second and third base. He was a neutral defender overall according to defensive runs saved, and he had a plus-six rating according to outs above average. He lost to Jared Triolo of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Triolo played the greatest variety of positions, but his defensive metrics were lesser than Donovan's. Kike Hernandez of the Los Angeles Dodgers had better metrics than both, but his positional versatility was less than Donovan's.

Cardinals' rookie shortstop Masyn Winn fell just short of winning the National League Gold Glove award at shortstop. Winn would have been the second-ever rookie shortstop to win this award, as Jeremy Pena of the Houston Astros was the first to do so in 2022. Winn was however awarded the Fielding Bible Award this year for being the best defensive shortstop in all of baseball.

Winn lost to Ezequiel Tovar of the Colorado Rockies. Winn, despite not holding an advantage in outs above average over the other two finalists, led the pack with 14 defensive runs saved. Winn had multiple spectacular defensive plays at one of the toughest positions in baseball, but his 18 errors and three outs above average likely took away some of the value he held.

Nolan Arenado was a finalist at third base, but San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman was a step ahead of Arenado at the hot corner. After a rough 2023 on the defensive side of the ball, Arenado turned back the clock slightly in 2024. He finished with six defensive runs saved and nine outs above average.

After not having a single-player win in 2023 -- only Tommy Edman was nominated at utility -- having three finalists this year is a sign of a return to the old way of playing baseball in St. Louis. The Cardinals had four winners in 2021 and two in both 2020 and 2022. Strong defense was the foundation for some of the organization's best teams in recent memory including 2013 and 2015.

For Masyn Winn, this won't be the last chance he has to win a Gold Glove. Once he learns how to controls his errors a bit more, he'll be a shoo-in each year. Brendan Donovan fails to receive his second, and Nolan Arenado still stands second all-time among third basemen with 10 Gold Gloves on his resume.

Any one of Donovan, Winn, or Arenado winning would have notched the franchise its 100th Gold Glove award.