Nolan Arenado, Byron Buxton among notable Gold Glove winners

Mike Oz
Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton won his first Gold Glove on Tuesday. (AP)
Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton won his first Gold Glove on Tuesday. (AP)

Baseball’s award season rolled on Tuesday and it was time to honor the best defenders in the game. Sure, home runs and strikeouts get all the glory in Major League Baseball, but as the world champion Houston Astros have shown us, good defense is a very important part of the game.

So Rawlings, as it does every November, handed out the Gold Glove winners for the 2017 season on Tuesday night. Among the notable winners: Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado, who won his fifth straight Gold Glove, D-backs pitcher Zack Greinke who won for the fourth straight and Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, who now has third straight. Notable first-timers include Twins defensive whiz Byron Buxton and Tucker Barnhart, who is the first Reds catcher to win the award since Johnny Bench in 1977.

Here are the position-by-position Gold Glove winners:

CATCHER
AL: Martin Maldonado, Los Angeles Angels
NL: Tucker Barnhart, Cincinnati Reds

FIRST BASE
AL: Eric Hosmer, Kansas City Royals
NL: Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks

SECOND BASE
AL: Brian Dozier, Minnesota Twins
NL: DJ LeMahieu, Colorado Rockies

THIRD BASE
AL: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
NL: Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies

SHORTSTOP
AL: Andrelton Simmons, Los Angeles Angels
NL: Brandon Crawford, San Francisco Giants

LEFT FIELD
AL: Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals
NL: Marcell Ozuna, Miami Marlins

CENTER FIELD
AL: Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins
NL: Ender Inciarte, Atlanta Braves

RIGHT FIELD
AL: Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox
NL: Jason Heyward, Chicago Cubs

PITCHER
AL: Marcus Stroman, Toronto Blue Jays
NL: Zack Greinke, Arizona Diamondbacks

The Gold Glove awards are chosen based on votes by players and managers, who can only cast their ballot for players in their own league.

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!