Dallas Keuchel, by his standards, had a bad season in 2021. He underperformed to the point where he wasn’t on the Chicago White Sox roster for the American League Division Series against the Houston Astros. He is a former Cy Young Award winner and World Series champion so he deserves respect as a baseball player but he just wasn’t good this year.
In 2021, Keuchel had a 9-9 record with a 5.28 ERA and 1.531 WHIP. He had 95 strikeouts in 162.0 innings pitched but he isn’t much of a strikeout pitcher. Even in his best days as a Major League pitcher, he wasn’t a strikeout guy. He relies on ground balls and good defense for a lot of his success.
That has led to him becoming a very good defensive pitcher through the years. When the ball is hit back to him, he is very good at fielding it and making a play. Over the last 20 years, he is probably the best defensive pitcher that the game has seen.
This is demonstrated by Keuchel’s four career Gold Glove Awards. That is a lot for anyone player but especially a pitcher. He has been so good at this for a long time and a lot better than most of his peers.
Dallas Keuchel is a nominee for the 2021 edition of the Gold Glove Award.
Despite his struggles in 2021, Keuchel is nominated for the American League Gold Glove award for pitchers. Zack Greinke of the Houston Astros and Jose Berrios of the Toronto Blue Jays are the other two nominees for this year’s award.
Keuchel led all pitchers with 12 defensive runs saved in 2021. Grienke is one of the only players with more Gold Gloves than Keuchel as he currently has six. However, Berrios is still sitting at 0 so he is hoping to get his first this year. All three of them deserve it and it will be fun to see who wins it.
There were no other White Sox Gold Glove nominees. Luis Robert certainly didn’t play enough games this year to win it after taking it home in 2020 for centerfield. It wouldn’t have surprised anyone of Jose Abreu or Yoan Moncada were nominated but they were snubs. It isn’t that big of a deal but it would have been nice t see them get recognition for their defensive efforts in 2021.
Hopefully, Keuchel wins it. He had a tough year so it would be fun to see him end it on a high note. Winning the Gold Glove is a tremendous honor and one that should not be taken lightly. There are likely more Gold Gloves to come from the White Sox core in upcoming years.