Two Rangers Named Gold Glove Finalists, One Snubbed

Finalists for the Gold Glove awards were announced on Thursday, with three players from each league at each position getting the honor before the winners are revealed on Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. on a live telecast on ESPN2.

There were two Rangers on the list, as four-time winner Adrian Beltre was named a finalist at third base while Mike Napoli was named a finalist at first base, despite playing just 11 games at first base for the Rangers after being acquired in early August.

Beltre is up against Baltimore's Manny Machado and Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria, despite the fact Toronto's Josh Donaldson, a frontrunner for AL MVP honors, was second in ultimate zone rating (9.2), according to FanGraphs. The leader? None other than Beltre (11.8). A Gold Glove win for Beltre would make him the 10th third baseman in big-league history to win five and further add to his Hall of Fame credentials.

Napoli would be a first-time winner and led all AL first baseman with at least 750 innings played, although just about all of that was with Boston before the trade to Texas, in UZR with a 4.4. Napoli's teammate, and the Rangers' primary first baseman, Mitch Moreland, led all qualified first basemen with a 4.2 rating but wasn't named a finalist. Instead, Napoli is up against two-time defending Gold Glover Eric Hosmer and former Ranger Mark Teixeira.

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