The Golden Glove winners were announced Monday, and to go with them, I’ll proved how the winners and near misses scored in the available metrics.
Since the Pacific League won the Japan Series, we’ll start there with the votes received, the Delta Graphs UZR 1200 (and catcher ratings), and Fielding Win Shares at the position per 1,000 innings played for the winner, the runner-up in the voting and the leader in each metric.
Pacific League
Pitcher
Yoshinobu Yamamoto wins his second and second straight.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Bu) | 225 | 14.4 | NA |
| Masahiro Tanaka (E) | 12 | 3.1 | NA |
Catcher
Takuya Kai had an up and down season, but when a player is considered the best at his position for so long, it’s hard to dislodge him. Kai wins his sixth and sixth straight.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | DG Catcher | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Takuya Kai (H) | 181 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 6.5 |
| Ginjiro Sumitani (E) | 27 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 2.5 |
| Tomoya Mori | 16 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 13.5 |
| Toshiya Sato | 8 | 5.6 | 1.4 | 6.2 |
First Base
Akira Nakamura wins his third straight and third overall. I voted for Daichi Suzuki…
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akira Nakamura (H) | 161 | 4.8 | 2.1 |
| Hotaka Yamakawa (L) | 47 | -0.4 | 1.3 |
| Daichi Suzuki (E) | 28 | 8.1 | 2.8 |
Second Base
Shuta Tonosaki wins for the first time in two years, and for the second time overall.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shuta Tonosaki (L) | 161 | 16.1 | 5.5 |
| Shogo Nakamura (M) | 71 | -9.7 | 3.7 |
| Masaki Mimori (H) | 27 | 17.5 | 5.0 |
Third Base
Yuma Mune wins for the second time overall and second straight.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yuma Mune (Bu) | 189 | -5.1 | 2.9 |
| Hisanori Yasuda (M) | 58 | 9.3 | 3.5 |
Shortstop
Sosuke Genda gets his fifth in a row and fifth overall. Really no question here.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sosuke Genda (L) | 189 | 18.0 | 6.1 |
| Kenta Imamiya (E) | 79 | 6.5 | 4.5 |
Outfielders
Akito Takabe and Shohei Fukuda are first-time winners, while Rakuten’s Tatsumi won his first last year.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akito Takabe (M) | 178 | 10.8 | 2.4 |
| Ryosuke Tatsumi (E) | 175 | 1.3 | 3.7 |
| Shuhei Fukuda (Bu) | 79 | -2.9 | 1.6 |
| Yuki Yanagita | 69 | -12.5 | 2.8 |
Central League
Pitchers
Masato Morishita wins his first. I voted for Imanaga.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masato Morishita (C) | 225 | -3.7 | NA |
| Shota Imanaga (BS) | 83 | 10.4 | NA |
Catcher
Nakamura wins his third gold glove, one for each of Yakult’s CL pennants in his career, 2015, 2021 and 2022.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | DG Catcher | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yuhei Nakamura (S) | 331 | 4.9 | 2.2 | 6.8 |
| Ryutaro Umeno (T) | 22 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 7.7 |
First Base
Sho Nakata wins his first in the CL. He won four in the PL with the Fighters. I didn’t vote for him, but it’s easy to see why people did, because he’s easily one of the best when he’s on his game.
Jose Osuna of Yakult was third in the vote.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sho Nakata (G) | 123 | 1.8 | 2.0 |
| Dayan Viciedo (D) | 68 | 4.5 | 2.3 |
| Neftali Soto (BS) | 23 | 11.5 | 3.0 |
Second Base
I thought this would be the year Tetsuto Yamada would end Ryosuke Kikuchi’s streak, but when you’re the king, it takes a lot to remove you, so Kikuchi wins his 10th straight.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryosuke Kikuchi (C) | 114 | 7.3 | 4.7 |
| Tetsuto Yamada (S) | 87 | 9.1 | 5.6 |
| Naoki Yoshikawa (G) | 71 | 11.7 | 4.0 |
Third Base
Kazuma Okamoto wins his second straight. He’s not undeserving.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kazuma Okamoto (G) | 130 | -1.6 | 3.0 |
| Munetaka Murakami (S) | 93 | 4.5 | 2.5 |
| Shogo Sakakura (BS) | 23 | 11.5 | 3.0 |
Shortstop
The surprise for me was that 26 voters opted out of selecting anyone in the CL for the award.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hideki Nagaoka (S) | 191 | 10.9 | 5.9 |
| Takumu Nakano (T) | 30 | 1.1 | 5.1 |
Outfield
This was a very crowded field of well-qualified players. I had Kuwahara ahead of Koji Chikamoto on my ballot, but the Tigers center fielder wins his second straight, while Yasutaka Sihomi and Yuki Okabayashi each collects his first.
| Votes | DG UZR 1200 | WS 1000 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yasutaka Shiomi (S) | 191 | 9.8 | 2.3 |
| Yuki Okabayashi (D) | 173 | 33.5 | 4.0 |
| Koji Chikamoto (T) | 170 | 6.5 | 2.9 |
| Masayuki Kuwahara (BS) | 143 | 8.9 | 4.9 |
