ARLINGTON, Texas — Kevin Kiermaier was surprised when he first saw a tweet Thursday saying he was not among the three finalists for the Gold Glove among American League centerfielders.
Then, the three-time winner was a few other things.
"I was disappointed," Kiermaier said before Friday's Game 3 of the World Series. "I was upset. I feel like what I did out there defensively was under-appreciated this year. I wasn't flawless, by any means, but I thought I was darn good out there. And not to even be considered top three, I don't know.
"I was thinking about these questions long before I got into this interview room and want to tread lightly with my words and not say anything I'm going to regret, but I think you guys know how I feel about it. You know what? At the end of the day, I've got a lot better things going on right now with the guys in that clubhouse playing in the World Series. So I'm OK with it. I'm not going to lose sleep over it. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't upset about it. I'll leave it at that."
The selection process was changed this year. Rather than using the votes of managers and coaches for 75% of the decision and a statistical formula for 25, the Rawlings Co. opted to go with just the numbers, using the Society for American Baseball Research Defensive Index, which aggregates data from metrics compiled by Statcast, Sports Information Solutions data, STATS, LLC and some traditional statistics.
The three AL finalists were Oakland's Ramon Laureano, Minnesota's Byron Buxton and Chicago's Luis Robert.
"If it was solely based on the computers and the numbers, I don't know what numbers that computer was looking at but, I believe they got it wrong," Kiermaier said. "That's my opinion. I think there's a lot of other people out there who would agree with me. It just wasn't my year to win it, but not being a nominee for top three, I think speaks for itself.
"It's OK. It's going to motivate me. It'll make me work harder in the offseason. But it's an award that means a lot to me, and I've been fortunate to win it. But this year wasn't my year. It's okay."
Kiermaier said he was also disappointed none of his Rays mates were nominated, mentioning shortstop Willy Adames, first baseman Ji-Man Choi and catcher Mike Zunino among potential candidates.
