SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Ian Kinsler was taught at a young age, by his father, Howard, on the baseball fields of Tucson: There are three aspects to baseball.
There’s hitting, fielding and baserunning.
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“You can affect the game doing any three of those things,” he said. “There’s a lot of ways to affect the game and defense is a huge component of that.”
On Tuesday night, Kinsler – an 11-year major league veteran – finally won his first American League Gold Glove Award. The Detroit Tigers’ second baseman beat Boston’s Dustin Pedroia and Seattle’s Robinson Cano for the award.
“It’s something that I work hard at,” Kinsler said. ”I want to be someone that can play really well on both sides of the ball and I work really hard at it. To finally be rewarded, it’s a good feeling.”
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The award was long overdue: Kinsler was a finalist in each of the past two seasons and once during his tenure with the Rangers.
In 2016, Kinsler had a .988 fielding percentage. He finished tied with Pedroia for the AL lead in Defensive Runs Saved with 12 and fourth in defensive rating according to FanGraphs, with 10.8.
He credited Tigers’ defensive coordinator Matt Martin with helping him improve.
“He had a lot to do with it,” Kinsler said. “Just really helping me slow the game down and working on my footwork and making sure that I’m not making pressure mistakes that I used to make when I was a little bit younger.
“I was always capable of playing really good defense, so Matt really worked with me in slowing down the game and it’s really benefitted me.”
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He is the first Tiger second baseman to win the award since Placido Polanco and sixth all-time. Lou Whitaker won three Gold Gloves in 1982, 1984-85, and Frank Boling won in 1958.
Kinsler, 34, has been worth 15.2 defensive wins above replacement in his career, according to Baseball-Reference.com. He feels he has improved as a defender as he’s gotten older.
“Obviously being a veteran and playing a lot of years, a lot of repetition, a lot of practice, obviously being more and more comfortable with the game, that all plays into it,” Kinsler said. “It’s really about understanding yourself and what plays you expect yourself to make and how to get certain balls and how to make it easier on yourself and all of that stuff starts to happen quicker and quicker the older you get. That’s my experience and I don’t really plan on slowing down.”
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