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Check out the other 2023 Gallardo Awards here.

The M-SABR Gallardo Awards, originally conceived by alumni Cam Cain and Sahil Shah, are given to some of the worst performing players in their respective categories each season.

This is the second article in this year’s series, honoring the worst defenders in the National League. The Iron Pyrite Glove Award is made of fool’s gold, and mirrors MLB’s Gold Glove Award. The Tin Glove Award is given to the worst defender overall. It’s our Platinum Glove Award.

C – Keibert Ruiz, WAS

We’re off with a bang. Keibert Ruiz has possibly the worst fielding profile of any Iron Pyrite winner this year. Although no aspect of his game was extreme enough to beat out Kyle Schwarber for the Tin Glove, he is objectively poor in every part of catching. 

Ruiz is a pushover with balls getting to the backstop, finishing second only to AL Tin Glove Award winner Martín Maldonado in passed balls. He has a slow-firing, inaccurate cannon when trying to catch runners stealing, allowing an unbelievable 33 more SB than any other catcher. And, per Statcast, his framing was still the most harmful part of his defense! 

He hasn’t broken out as a hitter, either, making his abhorrent defense all the more unacceptable. He needs to turn things around pretty soon to keep any hope of remaining part of the Nationals’ future. 

1B – Matt Olson, ATL

Placing a sour cherry on top of Matt Olson’s wonderful season feels shameful, but nonetheless he is the NL’s Iron Pyrite first baseman due to unexpected range troubles moving in all directions. Per Statcast, the original reference for choosing Pyrite winners, he turned in a disappointing -3 range run value. 

However, Fangraphs gives him a +8 defensive runs saved mark, good for third in the league among first basemen. Given his pedigree as a two-time Gold Glover, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. In any case, Braves fans probably didn’t notice his defense much in a year that he set the franchise record for single-season home runs. 

Going to more objective numbers, Olson was tied for the third most errors in the league at first base but gains some points back in my book due to his league leading 1426 innings. 

2B – Luis Arráez, MIA

Next is another great player who masked any defensive difficulties by absolutely mashing on the other side of the ball. I’ll forever love watching him spray line drive singles to left field, but Arraez has never been a good second baseman and rightfully deserves a 2023 Iron Pyrite Award. 

Arraez only committed four errors, just pennies compared to Gleyber Torres’ league leading 15 errors at 2B, but showed absolutely no range. Interestingly, the weakest part of his fielding in 2023 (and most of his career before that) was making plays moving in on slow-hit grounders. If Luis Arráez the hitter faced Luis Arráez the fielder, he might use his superb bat control to exclusively hit soft grounders to second and have a nearly foolproof way of finally hitting for over a .400 AVG. 

The Twins tried him a bit at 1B in 2022, which somewhat mitigated his damage. The Marlins have Josh Bell installed at first but could fit in some DH at bats for Arráez opposite right-handed Avisaíl García. If Arráez continues hitting at a very high level, it’ll be curious to see how his negative fielding value plays into his free agency after the 2025 season.

SS – Amed Rosario and Enrique Hernández, LAD

Tag team at SS! I can’t tell if Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman is a genius or quite the opposite. On one hand, he acquired the two worst defensive shortstops of the 2023 season to shore up his team’s middle infield deficiency.  On the other hand, Rosario rebounded in Los Angeles and turned in a positive run value mark after building to a whopping -15 run value in Cleveland. Hernández was mostly kept away from SS after almost equalling Rosario at -14 run value with the Red Sox. 

Rosario possesses great physical speed but cannot translate it into range. Rosario didn’t make too many errors, but both Statcast and Fangraphs agree that he wasn’t making any positive plays either. Similarly, his arm isn’t prohibitive but certainly doesn’t do him any favors. The Dodgers gave him some time at 2B last season, and he played intermittent innings in the outfield with the Guardians, suggesting his profile could mold into a super utility player like Hernández. 

But Hernández is a utility man for a reason — he’s not good enough at SS to play there everyday. What led the Red Sox to think that he could remains beyond me. However, even with that track record, Hernández leaped past expectations of how bad he could be as an everyday shortstop. His range was poor in every direction, and he racked up the eighth most errors despite playing the 30th most innings at short. I don’t think he’ll have too many more games there. 

3B – Max Muncy, LAD

A perennial Iron Pyrite threat, Max Muncy finally takes home his first award for defensive efforts at third base. Muncy fits the classical model of a versatilely bad fielder who gets shuffled around to keep his valuable bat in the lineup. This year, he topped 1000 innings at a single position for the first time in his career, and you can see why. 

Muncy committed the second most errors in the league at 3B and was slow extending his range in all directions. His unimposing arm strength doesn’t help him either. With the Dodgers offseason money dedicated to…well you know who, Muncy remains slotted in at 3B. He’ll probably still hit well enough to justify his place in the lineup, but you might see him back on this list again next year. 

LF – Kyle Schwarber, PHI

Tin Glove Award Winner

The captain of the NL Iron Pyrite Team, Kyle Schwarber is at this point synonymous with bad defense. Even with that reputation, he passed expectations of how terrible he could be, turning in a remarkable -20 run value in left field. He played fewer outfield innings in 2023 than 2022 but still ended with six less run value. 

Fangraphs pegs him at -21 DRS, a full 11 worse than the next closest. The Red Sox’ experiment with him at 1B in 2021 failed pretty conclusively too. There’s not even much to analyze. He’s just terrible. 

Zooming out, it’s remarkable that the worst defensive left fielder in the game hit .197 and still remains a super valuable player. Of course, a ginormous BB% bounces his putrid batting average up to a .343 OBP, and his trademark remains tantalizing power. However, it’s perhaps a mark of where the game has developed that a player like Schwarber can still be so valuable. If the defensive-minded depth outfielders of the Phillies — Brandon Marsh, Johan Rojas, and Cristian Pache — can hit just a little, Rob Thomson will pen Schwarber into the DH spot much more often, benefiting everyone involved. 

CF – Luis Matos, SF

Flying up from a middling A+ ball performance in 2022 to a major league debut in 2023 inspires all ardent prospect watchers to hope their guy will suddenly break out and reach the majors next year. However, the results were disappointing for Matos once he got to the bigs, especially on the defensive side.

Hailed as a natural centerfielder with plenty of speed and a strong arm, Matos shocked the Giants with how bad he was in center field. A big part of his dismal performance came from terrible numbers moving in on balls. That suggests that Matos’ difficulty came heavily from an inability to read balls, especially those right at him.

The positive spin on that says that his tools are still there, and an adjustment to the big leagues will help improve his reads. The negative spin says he’s just not a natural outfielder and will never quite unlock his potential.

I fall more on the latter side, given his pedigree as a defensive outfielder through the minors. He might be better off moving to the corners, though. 

RF – Nick Castellanos, PHI

What does it tell you that two of the top four teams in the NL had two Iron Pyrite winners? Is defense dead? Then again, the Diamondbacks beat both the Dodgers and Phillies in the playoffs on the back of great defense (and the Dodgers were a deceptively good defensive team despite the left side of their infield).

Castellanos pairs up with Schwarber to form an alarming corner outfield duo. Also, like Schwarber, Castellanos has never inspired even a hint of hope as a fielder, and his awful 2023 falls pretty fairly within expectations. Statcast gives him a rosy -10 run value, Fangraphs awards a brilliant -9 DRS, and M-SABR crowns him with an Iron Pyrite Glove Award. 

However, his run value mark is only the third worst of his career! And, he’s still a better outfielder than Schwarber! Such flattering superlatives! Sadly, that means Phillies fans can’t cling to much hope that Castellanos will be off his feet and in the lineup as a DH next year. Keep your eyes on him for Tin Glove consideration next year.    

Categories: 2023 Gallardo Awards, Articles, Season Analysis

Tags: 2023 Gallardo Awards