When Brandon Crawford wins the Gold Glove, it’s difficult to say the runners up were robbed. That said, even with his numbers, reputation, and prowess, Crawford was not the best defensive SS in the NL in 2021.

There are different stats to measure, but taking the totality of them, it would seem Francisco Lindor should’ve won the award.

Looking first at OAA, Lindor’s 20 was the best in the NL. It far outpaced Crawford and his 15. It also far outpaced fellow finalist, Kevin Newman, who had a 4 OAA. Crawford and Newman ranked third and eighth respectively.

While Newman was eighth in OAA, he tied with Trevor Story with a 9 DRS for tops in the NL. Crawford was third with 6, and Lindor was tied for fourth with 4.

We’d see Lindor make the most out of zone (OOZ) plays of any MLB SS. He tied with Newman with the second best success rate (77%) in the NL. Lindor’s 5% success rate added was the best in the majors.

Put another way, Lindor didn’t just make the plays a SS is supposed to make. We also saw Lindor get to balls and make plays other SS couldn’t this year. He was steady and brilliant.

All told, Crawford, Lindor, and Newman had terrific years defensively. You can add Story to that mix as well. However, when all was said and done Lindor was just able to make more plays that the others couldn’t. That’s why he deserved the Gold Glove.