At this point, no one on the Texas Rangers should give much thought to winning individual awards. After all, this season was the most disappointing in the memory of the team's limited playoff past.
But Tuesday will reveal the Gold Glove winners at each position with a few Rangers players up for the award.
It starts at third base, where 2011 Gold Glove recipient Adrian Beltre is up for the award once again after another stellar season defensively. He also won in 2007 and 2008 as a member of the Seattle Mariners.
In 2012, Beltre had a better fielding percentage (.974) than he did in any of his previous award-winning seasons with just eight errors at such a key defensive position. Seems like a slam dunk to me, but just for debate's sake, he's up against Brandon Inge of the Oakland A's and Mike Moustakas of the Kansas City Royals.
Elvis Andrus is searching for his first Gold Glove after committing 16 errors with a .976 fielding percentage. He's up against Baltimore's J.J. Hardy and and Seattle's Brendan Ryan.
The surprise here is in the left field department, where David Murphy is one of three finalists for the award. He had one error with a .995 fielding percentage in left field, but he's not really seen as a top-level defensive outfielder. He does have a propensity for throwing guys out on the bases, as he showed with his four outfield assists this season, but he was often lifted late in games for defensive purposes, putting Josh Hamilton in left and Craig Gentry in center.
He's up against Kansas City's Alex Gordon and Tampa Bay's Desmond Jennings, two of the best young outfielders in the game.
Sports Connection
Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
The awards will be broadcast on ESPN 2 at 8 p.m. Central on Tuesday.
