Jordan Lennerton wins 2nd Gold Glove

When putting a baseball team together one normally wants power on the corners and defence up the middle…..normally. With so many good players with strong offensive games vying for jobs in the majors the ones that play good defence often get overlooked.

If you have a strong 1 through 7 it is general accepted that carrying one or two ‘all glove guys’ is possible. These all glove guys usually play catcher, short stop, second base, or centre field. Not very often do teams pencil in an all glove first baseman. First baseman who can hit and play Gold Glove defence are a rare breed.

Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez, Mark Teixiera, Joey Votto, Eric Hosmer and Paul Goldschmidt have all won Gold Gloves over the past half decade, while providing their teams with above average offence.

Jordan Lennerton is a minor league first baseman in the Detroit Tigers farm system. Jordan a selection of the Tigers in the 33rd round of the 2008 Amateur Draft and has just finished his 7th season. Jordan isn’t a prospect in the traditional sense because 28-year-old aren’t typically viewed as prospects any more.

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Generated 12/9/2014.

The native of Langley, BC, has just won his second consecutive gold glove with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens. What makes this one so special is that Jordan finished the year with a 1.000 FPCT in 1048.2 innings. He turned 107 double plays with 69 assists. He now owns a .996 FPCT for his minor league career.

Lennerton is a left-handed bat with an open stance and lets the ball travel deep in the strike zone before committing. He lacks the power that one expects from a first baseman (.146 ISO) but shows a solid understanding of the strike zone with 15.0 BB% and 23.4 K%. He’s posted solid wOBA number throughout his career of .364.

Jordan isn’t likely to break into the Majors with Detroit given Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez are both signed long-term deals and they are great, but should Jordan get a chance to play at the major league level despite his lack of offensive upside?

I think that Jordan Lennerton could become the second coming of Casey Kotchman. Casey’ career high in home runs was 14 and he finished with a career triple slash line of .260/.326/.385 while finishing his career with the higher Fielding percentage at first base.