2 Orioles regulars named American League Gold Glove finalists

On Tuesday afternoon, Rawlings announced their annual Gold Glove award finalists for both the AL and NL. While the Orioles had a number of players deserving of a spot in their respective position's final three, just two O's starters made the cut.

Rookie sensation Colton Cowser earned the nod in left field, while first baseman Ryan Mountcastle will vie for his first career Gold Glove at the cold corner. Both players had exceptional seasons, on both sides of the ball, and are deserving candidates for these awards.

These days, there are two primary advanced stats that track defensive value. Defensive Runs Saved, or DRS, is a metric coined by FanGraphs, while Outs Above Average, or OAA, is Statcast's primary metric. DRS attempts to tell us how many runs better, or worse, a player is compared to an average player at his position. OAA does the same, but uses outs as a reference point rather than runs.

Ryan Mountcastle and Colton Cowser hoping to win Gold Glove awards for Orioles

Mountcastle's 8 DRS were tied with Carlos Santana for second best in all of baseball among first basemen. Statcast liked him a bit less but even still, his 2 OAA was good for sixth best at the position league-wide, and third in the AL.

If you want to go old school and use fielding percentage, Mountcastle's mark of .997 was third best in the league at his position, and tops in the AL. The knock against Mountcastle here is that he played just 981.1 innings at first this year, having spent time on the IL late in the season. The guys who didn't miss any time, like Matt Olson and Pete Alonso, saw more than 1,400 innings in the field, which is a huge difference.

While it's more impressive to put up those numbers over a full season, just six American League first basemen played more than 1,000 innings in the field in 2024, so it may not be a dealbreaker for voters. Mountcastle might not have the playing time to actually win the Gold Glove at first base, but it doesn't make his performance any less impressive.

Cowser's statistical case is a bit less impressive than Mountcastle's, but there are so many other outfield candidates that it makes it a tough comparison. Like Mountcastle, Cowser posted a .997 fielding percentage in just under 1,200 innings, good for fifth best in all of baseball.

DRS wasn't super high on Cowser though. His 3 DRS was good for just 25th best in the league, behind many of his peers. Cowser gets dinged by DRS quite a bit thanks to a below average arm, but he makes up for it with his speed and reads, which is accounted for by OAA.

Statcast liked Cowser quite a bit more than FanGraphs did. His 11 OAA was a top-10 mark among all outfielders - he was tied for seventh, along with Jarren Duran of the Red Sox and Jackson Merrill of the Padres.

Mountcastle will likely have a tough time getting past Carlos Santana, who by all accounts was the best defensive first baseman this year. Cowser has a good shot to win in left field, though. He'll face off against Alex Verdugo of the Yankees and Steven Kwan of the Guardians, both of whom Cowser compares favorably against.