The Yankees have a trio of AL Gold Glove finalists, one more surprising than the others.
Anthony Volpe, Alex Verdugo and Juan Soto were named finalists for the top defensive award on Tuesday, as voted upon by managers and coaches.
Volpe won it last year as a rookie and Verdugo has been the Yankees’ next-best defender throughout the season.
But Soto’s inclusion was notable for a superstar mostly known for his offense, even with the publicly available advanced metrics not favoring his defense in right field.
Soto registered minus-four Outs Above Average, which was tied for 37th among qualified right fielders, while his minus-one Defensive Runs Saved were tied for 13th among right fielders who played at least 500 innings.
Nevertheless, Soto’s nine assists were tied for the most in the majors by a right fielder.
“I’m not surprised,” manager Aaron Boone said before the Yankees’ 6-3 win in Game 2 of the ALCS. “Because I vote on that — you can’t vote for your own guys — but we get that [ballot] two or three weeks ago, it pops on your desk. They give you numbers in there to reference. He was up there, I noticed, on all the right field stuff in a lot of areas. Plus he’s had a ton of assists out there.”
Soto, a finalist with the Red Sox’s Wilyer Abreu and the Angels’ Jo Adell, has “probably” been better defensively than Boone expected coming into the year.
“But I also heard that he cared about it,” Boone said. “So you get a young, athletic guy that cares about doing it out there, they got a chance to be good. … He had a couple games where he struggled going back on a ball against the wall, but he’s also made a lot of plays out there too.”
Verdugo is a finalist in left field with the Orioles’ Colton Cowser and the Guardians’ Steven Kwan while Volpe is a finalist with the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. and the Guardians’ Brayan Rocchio.
“Happy for those guys,” Boone said. “Happy that they’re getting acknowledged for the work that they’ve put in and the pride that they take on that side of the ball. There’s probably another guy or two that were probably close to being in those finalist situations. Just a deserved honor for those guys.”
Nestor Cortes (left elbow flexor strain) is scheduled to throw a hybrid bullpen session on Wednesday — 10-15 pitches in the bullpen and then 10-15 pitches in live batting practice — which could keep him on track to potentially join the Yankees roster if they make it to the World Series.
“Really encouraged,” said Cortes, who estimated he would need two to three live batting practices. “Time is the only thing against us.”
The Guardians added right-hander Ben Lively to their ALCS roster on Tuesday as an injury replacement for Alex Cobb, who lasted just 2 ²/₃ innings in his Game 1 start.
Cobb has an acute left low back strain, according to the team, which allowed them to add Lively as a fresh arm.