Byron Buxton wins AL Center Field Gold Glove award

You can all put away your torches and pitchforks now, because Byron Buxton officially has his Gold Glove Award.

As you likely know, Gold Gloves are given to the best defensive player at each position in both leagues every year. While it’s supposed to an award just for defense, offense is often also a motivating factor in votes, which we all agree is dumb. Even though Buxton didn’t have the greatest offensive year—he started off very, very slow at the plate, but hit well later on—his defensive dominance was undeniable. Hence, the Gold Glove award. Heck, I’m even writing this hours before the Gold Glove winners are officially announced because I’m just that damn confident Buxton is going to win.

Defensive statistics aren’t the best, I know, but get a load of how Byron Buxton ranks in these stats among the other American League center fielders:

• Fangraphs Defensive WAR: 1st
• Defensive Runs Saved: 1st (with 24 runs saved; the runner up—Kevin Pillar—had 15 runs saved.)
• Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR): 1st (with a 9.9 rating. The runner up—Kevin Pillar—had a 6.0 rating.)

If you don’t like numbers, do you want to do the eyeball test instead? Let’s do the eyeball test.

And this compilation, for good measure:

The eyeball test results are that Byron Buxton is DA BOMB. If you have no idea where that saying comes from, ask your parents.

Brian Dozier was also a finalist for the AL Second Base Gold Glove, but, also as expected, he didn’t win that [EDIT: HE DID WIN SOMEHOW AND THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY]. It deservingly went to the Tigers’ Ian Kintzler. Bravo. People also thought Joe Mauer deserved a Gold Glove at first base, but he wasn’t even named as one of the three finalists, which is a giant, steaming pile of bull crap.

I mean, I’d say that the Gold Glove awards, as a whole, are kind of bull crap, but Byron Buxton just won a Gold Glove. So, for now, Gold Gloves mean something in my book. Sort of.

The last Twins player to win a Gold Glove was Joe Mauer at catcher in 2010 WAS BRIAN DOZIER A FEW MINUTES AGO! WHAT? [Editor’s Note: BRIAN DOZIER BABY!!!!] The last Twins center fielder to win a Gold Glove was Torii Hunter in 2007. Hall-of-Famer Kirby Puckett won six Gold Gloves as a Twin in center field. The player with the most Gold Gloves in Twins history is Jim Kaat, who won 11 Gold Gloves as a pitcher.

Pretty sure there are going to be many more Gold Gloves in Buxton’s future, too.

Congrats, Byron.