ST. LOUIS — It's no secret Yadier Molina is confident in his abilities. So when he wasn't a finalist for this year's Rawlings Gold Glove Award at catcher in the National League, he had something to say.
Molina took to Instagram to voice his displeasure with not being named one of the three finalists.
"Respect to all the finalists in the 2020 National League catcher! Now... I see an injustice to those who decide or not... I don't know if it's @mlb or whoever but it's clearly that they don't want this Boricua Jibarito to draw with the great @johnnybench_5... it's I'm not judged by not supporting the league in anything and not being their puppet.. For me at 38 years I'm still the best.. ask every catcher in the mlb and they'll tell you!!!," Molina said originally in Spanish on Instagram, with the English translation from the app quoted here.
In years past, Gold Glove Awards were voted on by managers and coaches around the league. Due to the condensed schedule of 2020, Rawlings used a purely analytical approach to determine this year's finalists, and based results solely on the SABR Defensive Index.
The Reds' Tucker Barnhart, Cubs' Willson Contreras and Pirates' Jacob Stallings were named the three National League finalists.
Molina has nine Gold Glove Awards, which is good for third place all-time. A tenth would have tied him with Hall of Famer Johnny Bench for second.
For what it's worth, catchers had to play 29 games to qualify for the Gold Glove this season. Of all catchers that played at least 100 innings in 2020, Molina ranked 10th in DEF (which measures a player's defensive value relative to league average) and 20th in DRS (defensive runs saved) among all catchers in baseball this season per FanGraphs. Barnhart, Contreras and Stallings ranked higher in both categories.
Molina also had three passed balls on the season, which was tied with Stallings and more than both other finalists. Molina's five errors on the season tied with Gary Sanchez and Sandy Leon for most in baseball at the catcher position.
Molina did only allow six stolen bases on the season, which is considerably less than all three finalists.
The final SABR Defensive Index rankings will be released when the winners are announced on Nov. 3
Molina still managed to play in 42 games of the Cardinals' 58-game schedule in 2020, despite contracting COVID-19.
The veteran is currently without a contract for 2021 or beyond, and is reportedly seeking to play two more years.