Believe it or not, a White Sox player is up for an end-of-season award after the team’s historically bad year.
Rawlings Baseball has named Nicky Lopez a Gold Glove Award finalist among American League second basemen, making him the team’s lone nominee. He is up against Marcus Semien of the Rangers and Andrés Giménez of the Guardians.
Lopez, 29, was one of five players traded to the White Sox in exchange for reliever Aaron Bummer last November. Never known for his bat, Lopez went on to hit .241/.312/.294 with one home run, 12 doubles, and 21 RBI in 445 plate appearances this season. He made up for that lack of production in the field, however, where he appeared in 83 games at second base and 45 games at shortstop.
In 640.1 innings at second, Lopez logged a .989 fielding percentage, -1 defensive runs saved, four outs above average, and a 1.4 on the SABR Defensive Index. This doesn’t stack up favorably for Lopez, unfortunately, as Semien and Giménez own much more impressive numbers at the position.
| Player | Innings | Fielding % | DRS | OAA | SDI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicky Lopez | 640.1 | .989 | -1 | 4 | 1.4 |
| Marcus Semien | 1382.2 | .989 | 10 | 19 | 12.2 |
| Andres Giménez | 1331.0 | .986 | 20 | 20 | 12.5 |
The last White Sox second baseman to win a Gold Glove Award was Yolmer Sanchez back in 2019. Funny enough, the fan-favorite was outrighted shortly after when the White Sox did not offer him the $6.2 million he was projected in his final year of arbitration. Lopez may hold a similar fate as he’s estimated to earn $5.1 million in arbitration this year. With the team looking to cut payroll and already having options in both Brooks Baldwin and Lenyn Sosa, it doesn’t appear likely that Lopez will return at such a high price.
Major League Baseball will announce the 2024 Gold Glove Award winners on Sunday, November 3 during a special edition of ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight.” The program will air starting at 7:30 p.m. CT.
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Featured Photo: © Stan Szeto-Imagn Images
