The Golden State Warriors might be the talk of the town, but even Steve Kerr’s squad still has a long way to go to catch up with Giants’ shortstop Brandon Crawford.
Crawford is now in Shaq and Kobe territory, after securing a Gold Glove “three-peat” on Tuesday evening as he took home a piece of coveted hardware for the third straight season. The 30-year-old Crawford bested fellow finalists Freddy Galvis and Corey Seager to become the first National League shortstop since Jimmy Rollins (2007-2009) to win three Gold Gloves in a row.
The seventh-year shortstop battled through adversity on the field as the Giants finished 64-98 and in fifth-place for the first time in Crawford’s career, but also dealt with hardships off of it as his sister-in-law, Jennifer Pippin, died unexpectedly of an asthma attack in April while he posted a tweet acknowledging the passing of his grandfather this past Saturday.
“It was definitely a tough season on the field, off the field, so to be able to kind of get, it’s an individual award, but at least get some sort of positive out of this season is definitely still nice,” Crawford said via a conference call on Tuesday night. “Obviously we’d prefer team recognition, but the individual award is still something nice to look back on.”
On Tuesday night, Crawford became the first Giants’ player since J.T. Snow to win three straight Gold Gloves as Snow accomplished the feat four straight times from 1997-2000 as a first baseman. Since the start of the 2005 season, Crawford and former Giants’ shortstop Omar Vizquel have now combined to win five of the past 13 Gold Gloves given to National League shortstops.
Rollins, an Oakland native, won four of the others, as he added a 2012 Gold Glove to the three he earned from 2007-2009. In between Rollins’ dominance, former Rockies’ shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, a Santa Clara native, won back-to-back Gold Gloves in 2010 and 2011.
The 38-year-old Rollins actually spent Spring Training with the Giants in an attempt to make the team’s roster, but left the franchise in Spring Training without formally announcing a retirement. After earning his third consecutive Gold Glove on Tuesday, Crawford spoke about the opportunity he had to work with Rollins this spring, and highlighted the Bay Area connection he shares with Rollins as Crawford is a native of Mountain View.
“Just to be able to talk to him and just learn from experiences that he’s had in the past and just to be able to pick his brain on anything on the field or off the field really and just to have a veteran like that in camp, especially at the same position as I am, and when I was in high school, watching him play, a Bay Area guy, it was definitely cool to be able to talk to him and pick his brain a little bit,” Crawford said.
Crawford will enter Spring Training at the age of 31, and is clearly a player the Giants plan on building around for years to come. He’s signed through the 2021 season, as San Francisco owes him $60 million over the next four years.
With Crawford and fellow Gold Glove finalist Buster Posey locked up on long-term deals, the Giants are intent on keeping pitching and defense as the identity of the franchise, and Crawford said Tuesday he’s looking forward to a collective defensive improvement come 2018.
“Honestly, whether or not we improve on our defense this offseason by getting anybody, we have to put the season behind us going into next year and like I said about Bum (Bumgarner) and Cueto, no matter who’s behind them playing defense, you always have a shot with those two on the mound,” Crawford said. “Staying healthy and just being out there and their presence on the mound would obviously be better for us next year. But yeah, defense is always a big deal. I think we’ve always, in our championship seasons, we’ve played really good defense in the infield, behind the plate and in the outfield and if we can improve on that, I like our chances going into next year.”
Posey was a finalist for a Gold Glove Award on Tuesday, but the National League honor went to Reds’ catcher Tucker Barnhart who beat out both Posey and eight-time winner Yadier Molina.
Last year, the Giants had three winners, as Crawford, Posey and Joe Panik all took home hardware. This season, though, the advanced defensive metrics kept Panik out of the conversation for back-to-back awards, even though Crawford felt that Panik’s defense was still solid at second base.
“I don’t know how defensive numbers are put together, really,” Crawford said. “I mean, mine were down this year also so I don’t know what, not as down as Joe’s, but they were down from previous years so I don’t know what’s put into it. Who’s keeping track of what play should be made, quote, unquote, so the advanced defensive metrics can definitely be kind of skewed but they are what they are.”