[BirdWatcher]

The Gold Glove award winners for the 1986 season were announced a few days ago.

Here are the SJL results:





This is the 9th Gold Glove for future Hall of Fame San Antonio second baseman John Mussaw (10.7 ZR). Veteran third baseman Pat Crews has won a Gold Glove 6 times now, the first two coming as a member of the Baltimore Lords in the MGL and now 4 as the Washington Night Train third baseman. This marks the 4th time that Washington shortstop Abelard Cooper has won a Gold Glove and the 3rd time that Washington pitcher Matt Jenkins and Chicago center fielder Kyle Hanley have earned the honor. Seattle catcher John Pepin gets his 2nd GG. First timers are all veterans: 33-year old first baseman Chase Moeller in his first year with Columbus, 30-year old right fielder Brian Paul in his 3rd year with Philly, and 28-year old Pittsburgh left fielder Brendan Beaver (10.5 ZR, 10 outfield assists).


The MGL winners are:




Portland Wild Things' center fielder Quincy Schultz (younger brother of long-time first baseman Josh Schultz, who won a pair of Gold Gloves himself) struggles to stay in the lineup due to extreme injury proneness, but when he does play he is the consensus best defensive center fielder in the game and one of the best defenders in the WPK period. Schultz wins his 6th Gold Glove award at age 26 (14.2 ZR).
Oklahoma City third baseman Antonio Briones wins his 3rd Gold Glove award, although the first came while he was playing shortstop still.
Phoenix catcher John Sposato wins his 2nd Gold Glove and is one of 4 Speed Devils players to win one for their play this past season. First timers are starting pitcher Jonathan Reichman, second baseman Jim Cleveland, and shortstop John Rains. In Cleveland and Rains the normally offensive-minded Phoenix club has arguably the best up-the-middle infield defense in the game (with the aging duo of Bud Lindsay and John Mussaw still right up there) while getting little offensive production from these positions. Rains won out over the Denver Brewers 5-time Gold Glove shortstop Willie Romero, with Rains 30.3 ZR leading not just all MGL shortstops but all WPK players at any position (Chicago center fielder Kyle Hanley was second at 20.0.)
Other first time winners in the MGL are veteran Brooklyn first baseman Andy Raley (mostly a third baseman prior to this past season), San Francisco rookie left fielder Ryan Frommeyer (who also led the MGL in batting average and had a ZR of 8.5 and 12 outfield assists), and St. Louis rookie right fielder Jonathon Georgian (12.8 ZR, 9 outfield assists).