Clutch Defense 4 and 5 for All Players Nominated for Gold Glove 2020 or 2021

The following are the top fielders in the game at each position, thus awarded a minimum of a Clutch Defense 5 (best) or CD4 (2nd best). If the player was nominated for the Gold Glover award in either league in 2021, they automatically get the best rating (CD5). If a pitcher was nominated in 2020, they also get a CD5. If a non-pitcher was nominated in 2020 but not in 2021, then they get at least a CD4 unless they were one of the few that qualified as a CD5 based on the info below:

 

Fielder	Pos	Min. Def
Brandon Belt	1b	CD4
Freddie Freeman	1b	CD5
Paul Goldschmidt	1b	CD5
Yuli Gurriel	1b	CD5
Max Muncy	1b	CD5
Matt Olson	1b	CD5
Anthony Rizzo	1b	CD4
Jared Walsh	1b	CD5
Evan White	1b	CD4
Ozzie Albies	2b	CD5
Tommy Edman	2b	CD5
David Fletcher	2b	CD5
Dam Frazier	2b	CD4
Cesar Hernandez	2b	CD4
Nico Hoerner	2b	CD4
Nicky Lopez	2b	CD4
Danny Mendrick	2b	CD4
Whit Merrifield	2b	CD5
Jonathan Scoop	2b	CD4
Marcus Semien	2b	CD5
Kolten Wong	2b	CD5
Brian Anderson	3b	CD4
Nolan Arenado	3b	CD5
Matt Chapman	3b	CD5
Isiah Kiner-Falefa	3b	CD4
Manny Machado	3b	CD5
Ryan McMahon	3b	CD5
Yon Moncada	3b	CD4
José Ramírez	3b	CD5
Gio Urshela	3b	CD4
Joey Wendle	3b	CD5
Tucker Barnhart	c	CD4
Willson Contreras	c	CD4
Yasmani Grandal	c	CD4
Martín Maldonado	c	CD5
James McCann	c	CD4
Yadier Molina	c	CD5
Sean Murphy	c	CD5
Roberto Perez	c	CD4
Salvador Perez	c	CD5
J.T. Realmuto	c	CD5
Jacob Stallings	c	CD5
Michael A. Taylor	cf	CD5
Ronald Acuna Jr.	cf	CD4
Harrison Bader	cf	CD5
Cody Bellinger	cf	CD4
Jackie Bradley Jr.	cf	CD5
Byron Buxton	cf	CD4
Trent Grisham	cf	CD4
Kevin Kiermaier	cf	CD5
Ramon Laureano	cf	CD4
Bryan Reynolds	cf	CD5
Luis Robert	cf	CD4
Myles Straw	cf	CD5
Shogo Akiyama	lf	CD4
Randy Arozarena	lf	CD5
Andrew Benintendi	lf	CD5
Alex Gordon	lf	CD4
Lourdes Gurriel Jr.	lf	CD5
Tyler O'Neill	lf	CD5
David Peralta	lf	CD5
AJ Pollock	lf	CD5
Kyle Tucker	lf	CD4
José Berríos	p	CD5
Griffin Canning	p	CD5
Zach Davies	p	CD5
Max Fried	p	CD5
Zack Greinke	p	CD5
Kyle Hendricks	p	CD5
Dallas Keuchel	p	CD5
Kenta Maeda	p	CD5
Alec Mills	p	CD5
Zach Plesac	p	CD5
Zack Wheeler	p	CD5
Mookie Betts	rf	CD5
Charlie Blackmon	rf	CD4
Adam Duvall	rf	CD5
Clint Frazier	rf	CD4
Joey Gallo	rf	CD5
Jason Heyward	rf	CD4
Hunter Renfroe	rf	CD5
Anthony Santander	rf	CD4
Kyle Tucker	rf	CD5
Mike Yastrzemski	rf	CD5
Javier Baez	ss	CD4
Carlos Correa	ss	CD5
Brandon Crawford	ss	CD5
J.P. Crawford	ss	CD5
JP Crawford	ss	CD4
Niko Goodrum	ss	CD4
Francisco Lindor	ss	CD5
Kevin Newman	ss	CD5
Miguel Rojas	ss	CD4
Andrelton Simmons	ss	CD5
Dansby Swanson	ss	CD4

On the new cards, each player is assigned only his main position, however they can play other positions as indciated:

Centerfielders (CF) can now move to RF or LF with their Error Rating only increased by 1.

Rightfielders (RF) and Leftfielders (LF) can flip to the other position with an Error Rating only increased by 1, and if they have an On-base Running of A or B, they can also move to centerfield with an Error Rating only increased by 1.

Shorstops (SS) can play Third Base (3B) or Second Base (2B) with an Error Rating only one higher. Admittedly this was partly driven by our Puerto Rican team having three Gold Glove Shortstop nominees on the roster in Correa, Lindor and Baez.

Third-baseman (3B) can play First Base (1B) with the error rating increased by 1.

In addition, any player who played one to nine games at any other position can play that position with an E7, CD1, and for catcher TA or outfielder T2.

If a player plays a position he did not play during the season then he plays with an E10 and if Catcher a TC or if Outfield a T2.

Fielding Background Previously Posted

Based on runs erased by fielders their Clutch Defensive Rating in the game is somewhere between a CD1 (worst) and a CD5 (best). However, we only give a couple of CD5 spots out based on this rating - we mainly save them for players who have been nominated for a Gold Glove in the last 4 seasons. We just still believe observations has to be part of fielding ratings - as great as the improvement in stats has been.