TOWER GROVE -- St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, a two-time Rawlings Gold Glove winner and a favorite to win his third consecutive later this offseason, became the first to pull off a perfect sweep in other leading defensive honor, the Fielding Bible Award.
Molina received a perfect score -- a 100 -- to become the first player in the five years of the Fielding Bible Awards to be honored unanimously as the best player in the majors at his position. This is the fourth time that Molina has won the Fielding Bible Award at catcher, tying him with teammate Albert Pujols for the most FB awards won.
You can find the complete voting info and other details about the award at the official web site for The Fielding Bible.
The Fielding Bible Awards are an offshoot of The Fielding Bible book, a work by John Dewan that has attempted to offer better understanding and better metrics for judging defense. Each year, Dewan and Baseball Info Solutions convenes a panel of 10 voters to determine the best defensive players at each position. This year, the panel included Hall of Fame writer Peter Gammons, Bill James, Sports Illustrated senior writer and author Joe Posnanski and a couple "committees," including the fan vote organized by Tom Tango (Tango Tiger). The voters use the MVP-style ballot, meaning they rank the top 10 at each position with No. 1 getting 10 points, No. 2 getting nine points and so on.
Molina was listed as No. 1 on all 10 ballots.
From the announcement of Molina's win that Baseball Info Solutions put out Monday morning revealing the nine winners:
Hands down, bar none, Molina is the best catcher in Major League Baseball. This is his fourth-consecutive award, tying him for most career Fielding Bible Awards with Albert Pujols, and very nearly his fifth as he lost in '06 by only six points. Factoring in his runs saved on Misplays and Good Plays, Molina saved the Cards a whopping 20 runs defensively in 2010.
Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan appeared to be a leader for a Fielding Bible Award, and the awards creator even presented Ryan as his favorite for the NL Gold Glove. The advocacy was based on Ryan's plus-31 at shortstop, the highest for any shorstop in the majors. (The plus/minus rating measures plays outside a prescribed zone -- a plus -- against misses within that zone.) Ryan, according to Bill James Online, had 24 defensive runs saved. That also led the majors at his position.
When it came to the Fielding Bible Award vote, however, Ryan finished second, behind the favorite to win a Gold Glove, Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki. The Rockies' ace infielder saved 16 runs, according to Dewan's metrics.
Ryan scored 81 points, and he received three first-place votes.
Other Cardinals who received votes were Matt Holliday (fifth in LF), Pujols (second at 1B), Felipe Lopez (received votes at 3B), Jake Westbrook (sixth at P), Chris Carpenter (eighth at P) and Adam Wainwright (tied 10th at P).
The complete list of Fielding Bible Award winners for 2010, including a former Cardinal farmhand and a St. Louis native who likely clinched his 2010 AL Gold Glove on Opening Day ...
P Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox (86)
C Yadier Molina, Cardinals (100)
1B Daric Barton, Oakland (86)
2B Chase Utley, Philadelphia (86)
3B Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay (92)
SS Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado (97)
LF Brett Gardner, NY Yankees (96)
CF Michael Bourn, Houston (91)
RF Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle (92)
The number listed next to the team is the point total each player received. Longoria edged Washington third baseman Ryan Zimmerman in the closest vote of the year, 92 to 91.
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