Catcher FWS FWAA Kendall 11.9 1.7 B.Molina 9.2 0.9 Soto 9.0 0.6 Snyder 7.2 1.0 Y.Molina 6.6 1.1 Schneider 6.0 0.9 Iannetta 5.5 0.1 Ruiz 5.3 0.2 Martin 5.3 0.4
The most striking thing about this list is Jason Kendall at the top, and by a wide margin. Last year, he got my Iron Glove because he was terrible behind the plate, at least by these measures.
I'll assume for this post that an average fielding catcher would earn about 2.5 fielding win shares to get the composite score. But there's really no contest.
Last year, Yadier Molina edged out Chris Snyder and got my Gold Glove. This year the Gold Glove goes to last year's Iron Glove: Jason Kendall. Wow. Something isn't right about that, which isn't surprising since catcher defense is arguably unmeasurable. Benji comes in second.
Last year, Michael Barrett came in a close second for the Iron Glove. Fortunately for Barrett, he didn't play enough to qualify. (Yes, he would have won it again at his current pace). His teammate Josh Bard came close to 200 PAs, though. Maybe he should get it. But I give the Iron Glove to Washington's Jesus Flores. Even with 100 more PAs he wasn't as bad as Bard, but maybe Bard's sample size is too low? I'm being generous. At least Flores isn't a complete liability at the plate, like the San Diego contenders.
And maybe, just maybe, Flores will get the gold next year, just like Mr. Kendall.
