The Royals led the league in Outs Above Average with a much-improved defense, and now that improvement will be recognized with four players named as finalists for Gold Glove Awards - catcher Freddy Fermin, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and pitchers Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo.
Freddy Fermin is a first-time finalist in just his second full year in the big leagues. Fermin threw out 17 of 38 would-be base-stealers, a 45 percent caught rate that was highest among any catcher that faced at least 40 attempts. He was sixth in all of baseball in pitch blocking, third-best among AL catchers behind only Danny Jansen and Adley Rutschman.