Miguel Rojas was voted among the top defensive shortstops in baseball by Sports Info Solutions (SIS), finishing fifth in voting for the 2023 Fielding Bible award.
The Chicago Cubs’ Dansby Swanson was voted as the unanimous winner with Willy Adames (Milwaukee Brewers), Ezequiel Tovar (Colorado Rockies), Anthony Volpe (New York Yankees) and Rojas rounding out the top five.
Rojas was the Los Angeles Dodgers’ primary shortstop after Gavin Lux tore his ACL early in Spring Training. Although his offensive production left a lot to be desired, Rojas was among MLB’s best defenders.
The 34-year-old ranked in the 91st percentile of outs above average with six and had a run value of five. His fielding runs prevented (RAA) of four placed Rojas ninth among shortstops.
In addition, Rojas fielded 80% of his attempts despite an estimated success rate of 78%.
Rojas played 953.2 innings at shortstop and committed just six errors, giving him a fielding percentage of .986. He finished with 143 putouts and 281 assists, along with turning 58 double plays.
By FanGraphs defensive metrics, Rojas had 12 defensive runs saved and an ultimate zone rating of 1.3, or 2.4 per 150 innings. Both numbers placed him inside the top-10 of shortstops.
Fielding Bible Award winners were determined by a 16-person voting panel. The group selects 11 winners, with one at each position, plus for the best multi-position player and a Defensive Player of the Year.
The voting panel consisted of SIS co-founder John Dewan, Bill James, Daniel Álvarez-Montes (El Extra Base), Chris Dial (sabermetrician), Alyson Footer (MLB.com), Peter Gammons (The Athletic), Tyler Kepner (The Athletic), Bill Ladson (MLB.com), Eduardo Pérez (ESPN), Hal Richman (Strat-O-Matic), Travis Sawchik (The Score), Bobby Scales (SIS), Joe Sheehan, Mark Simon (SIS), Dani Wexelman (MLB Network Radio), and an aggregate vote from the SIS Video Scout staff.
A first-place vote garnered 10 points, second-place received nine points, third-place got eight points, and so forth.
It is the 18th season SIS has honored the best defensive players in MLB.
Mookie Betts wins multi-position Fielding Bible
Mookie Betts was voted the winner of the 2023 multi-position Fielding Bible Award. Betts has now won six Fielding Bible Awards in his career, with the previous five coming in right field (2016-2020, 2022).
Betts, a 2023 Gold Glove Award finalist in right field and utility, received 15 of 16 first-place votes from the Fielding Bible panel.
He is tied with Yadier Molina and Andrelton Simmons for most all-time Fielding Bible Awards with six each. Fielding Bible Awards have been handed out each year since 2006.
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