3 Astros named Gold Glove finalists, although they had one big snub

Rawlings announced today that three Houston Astros have a chance to bring home a Gold Glove. The Gold Gloves generally get pretty close to identifying the better defenders in the league, but there are always some headscratchers and this year is no exception with a couple Astros getting nominated as surprises along with one very big snub.

Mauricio Dubón, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker are finalists for a Gold Glove.

Both are very deserving of the honor, though it is somewhat surprising to see Dubón as a finalist strictly because his time at second base was limited. He was an everyday starter there the first two months of the season with Altuve on IL, but finished the year with only 79 total games at 2B.

Dubie racked up 5 DRS while at second, but his Statcast metrics weren't quite as kind, finishing with -1 OAA. Marcus Semien will likely take home the honor, having finished with 16 DRS at second.

Alex Bregman is still hunting the first Gold Glove of his career. He finished the year with 5 DRS at the hot corner and 1 out above average. Bregman is competing with Matt Chapman and José Ramirez for the honor.

Bregman is too good at third to not win the honor someday, and nobody in baseball is better at the charging, bare-handed play than Bregman, but Chapman is likely the leading candidate this year, having finished with 12 DRS.

Kyle Tucker and Jeremy Peña each brought home a Gold Glove last year. Tucker's first-halfdefensive regression likely killed any chances he had of repeating this year, as he finished the year with only 1 DRS, and even that was from a strong second-half. His -4 outs above average make it a surprise Tucker was even named a finalist. Alex Verdugo's 9 DRS likely make him the front-runner in right field.

While Tucker regressed defensively, his fellow Gold Glove winner last season has a very strong case to be a finalist, but was overlooked.

Jeremy Peña was robbed of being an AL Gold Glove finalist.

Peña finished the year with 7 DRS. He didn't match his incredible total of 16 from last year, but still was better than finalists Corey Seager (5 DRS) and Carlos Correa (-2 DRS). Peña's 3 outs above average was also better than Correa's 1 and Seager's -1.

Yankees rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe has a compelling case to top Peña for the award this year, but there is no reason Peña wasn't again named a finalist.