The long-running joke is that in order for a player to win a Gold Glove for his defense, a player has to be a good hitter, too. By season’s end, the San Francisco Giants might very well be able to demonstrate that Patrick Bailey is the best defensive catcher in the National League, but will he have hit enough to warrant serious consideration by voters?
Last year, Alex Eisert explored this joke a bit more for FanGraphs.
[...] Per Rawlings’ official site, Gold Gloves do not take offense into account and are decided in part by a fielder’s SABR Defensive Index, a composite measure of defense that includes six distinct data sources.