Brandon Belt is a Gold Glove finalist

The coronavirus may have shortened the 2020 MLB season and thus cost San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt a shot at playing in the All-Star Game, but he’s still getting some much-deserved recognition.

On Thursday it was announced that Belt was named a finalist for the National League Gold Glove Award at first base.

If Belt were to win, it would give the Giants their first Gold Glove Award since Brandon Crawford won his third straight in 2017. The Giants last had a first baseman take home the honors in 2000, when J.T. Snow picked up his fourth Gold Glove in as many years.

Belt is up against some good competition though: Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs, and Paul Goldschmidt of the St. Louis Cardinals. Those two have combined to win the award in six of the last seven seasons.

Still, Belt has a compelling case after putting in a truly elite season both with his bat and glove. We’ll see if it nets him his first Gold Glove Award. In most years, managers and coaches have 75% of the say in voting, with the other 25% being based on the defensive index from the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR). This year, since team’s had a limited schedule, it’s based entirely on the SABR analytics, which would seem to help Belt.

Here are the rest of the nominees:

Pitcher
NL: Max Fried (Braves), Kyle Hendricks (Cubs), Alec Mills (Cubs)
AL: Griffin Canning (Angels), Kenta Maeda (Twins), Zach Plesac (Cleveland)

Catcher
NL: Tucker Barnhart (Reds), Willson Contreras (Cubs), Jacob Stallings (Pirates)
AL: Yasmani Grandal (White Sox), Jason McCann (White Sox), Roberto Pérez (Cleveland)

First base
NL: Brandon Belt (Giants), Paul Goldschmidt (Cardinals), Anthony Rizzo (Cubs)
AL: Yuli Gurriel (Astros), Matt Olson (A’s), Evan White (Mariners)

Second base
NL: Adam Frazier (Pirates), Nico Hoerner (Cubs), Kolten Wong (Cardinals)
AL: Cesar Hernandez (Cleveland), Danny Mendick (White Sox), Jonathan Schoop (Tigers)

Third base
NL: Brian Anderson (Marlins), Nolan Arenado (Rockies), Manny Machado (Padres)
AL: Isiah Kiner-Falefa (Rangers), Yoán Moncada (White Sox), Gio Urshela (Yankees)

Shortstop
NL: Javier Báez (Cubs), Miguel Rojas (Marlins), Dansby Swanson (Braves)
AL: Carlos Correa (Astros), J.P. Crawford (Mariners), Niko Goodrum (Tigers)

Left field
NL: Shogo Akiyama (Reds), Tyler O’Neill (Cardinals), David Peralta (Diamondbacks)
AL: Alex Gordon (Royals), Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (Blue Jays), Kyle Tucker (Astros)

Right field
NL: Mookie Betts (Dodgers), Charlie Blackmon (Rockies), Jason Heyward (Cubs)
AL: Clint Frazier (Yankees), Joey Gallo (Rangers), Anthony Santander (Orioles)

Center field
NL: Ronald Acuña Jr. (Braves), Cody Bellinger (Dodgers), Trent Grisham (Padres)
AL: Byron Buxton (Twins), Ramón Laureano (A’s), Luis Robert (White Sox)