Detroit Tigers: Niko Goodrum and Jonathan Schoop are Gold Glove finalists

The Detroit Tigers had two players, Niko Goodrum and Jonathan Schoop, named as finalists for a 2020 Gold Glove award.

As the Detroit Tigers continue a managerial search that looks like it will take some time, they have had two of their infielders named as award finalists. That might sound shocking, given the Tigers have not had much award-caliber play in recent years.

However, Niko Goodrum and Jonathan Schoop were each named as finalists for the 2020 Gold Glove awards.  The two were the double-play combination for most of the games this season. Goodrum’s nomination came at shortstop and Schoop’s was at second base.

Goodrum is up for the award alongside Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa and J.P Crawford of the Seattle Mariners. Schoop is up for the award alongside three other American League (AL) Central opponents.

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Schoop will be up against Cesar Hernandez from the Cleveland Indians, Nicky Lopez of the Kansas City Royals, and Danny Mendick from the Chicago White Sox. The winners will be announced on November 3rd.

A look at Niko Goodrum’s 2020 performance:

The thing with Goodrum is that his presence at the plate was nearly non-existent. He was supposed to settle in nicely as the Tigers shortstop in 2020, he settled in defensively, but was not really “there” in the batters’ box during the 2020 season.

In 43 games played, Goodrum would hit .184/.263/.335 with five home runs and 20 RBI, while striking out 69 times over 158 at-bats. In 31 games at shortstop, Goodrum made just one error, boasting a .991% fielding percentage.

In fact, Goodrum only made two errors in total during the 2020 season which was a step up for him. He made 14 total errors in 2019, eight of them coming at shortstop. He seemingly settled in nicely as a shortstop defensively but did not get it going offensively.

A look at Jonathan Schoop’s 2020 performance:

For Schoop, he had his season cut short by sixteen games due to an injury. He was brought in when the Tigers brought in some talents from the Minnesota Twins this past offseason and turned out to be a sound investment.

Schoop played in 44 games during the 2020 season where he hit .278/.324/.475 with eight home runs and 23 RBI, looking much better than Goodrum did offensively. But this award focuses on defense, and Schoop also excelled in that department.

All 44 games that Schoop played in were at second base, he would make just one error and contribute to 25 total double plays during the 2020 season. Schoop managed a .994% fielding percentage on the year, worthy of consideration for the Gold Glove award.

While the awards will not be handed out immediately, there will be some time sort through some voting, but the Tigers have two players who could earn some hardware for their work out in the field.

After that, the Detroit Tigers will have to start deciding whether Niko Goodrum is going to get his role as starting shortstop back heading into 2021, and also decide if they want to re-sign Jonathan Schoop.