Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Santana and Hunter win Gold Gloves

Twins pitcher Johan Santana and center fielder Torii Hunter have been selected as Rawlings Gold Glove winners for the 2007 season. It's Hunter's seventh Gold Glove in as many years (and puts him ahead of Kirby Puckett's six Gold Gloves) and Santana's first.

Look for more in Wednesday's Pioneer Press. For now, here's some information from the Twins press release ...

Hunter, 32, batted .287 (172-600) with 45 doubles, one triple, 28 home runs, 107 rbi and 18 stolen bases in 160 games in 2007 for the Twins. Hunter led the club in games, at-bats, runs, hits and doubles, and was second in home runs, rbi and stolen bases.

He had a .995 (2 E, 394 TC) fielding percentage with five outfield assists last season and has a career fielding percentage of .991 (28 E, 3171 TC) with 72 outfield assists. Hunter becomes just the second Twin to be at least a seven-time winner (Jim Kaat, 11) and the first since Kaat (1962-72) to win the award in seven consecutive seasons. It also marks the 14th time the award has been given to a Twins outfielder.

Santana, 28, was 15-13, 3.33 (219.0 ip, 81 er) in 33 starts, with 52 walks and 235 strikeouts for the Twins in 2007. He had a 1.000 (0 E, 40 TC) fielding percentage last season, and has a career fielding percentage of .932 (15 E, 221 TC). Santana’s four pickoffs were tied for the second most in the American League last season. He becomes just the second pitcher in club history to win the award and the first since Jim Kaat in 1972.