With the offseason underway, the first of hopefully several awards was announced for a Cub on Thursday, recognizing the excellence of the team's first-year shortstop.
Dansby Swanson, who led all of baseball, regardless of position, in outs above average, won the Fielding Bible Award for shortstop, an award given to who is voted as the best defensive player at each position when considering advanced metrics.
Swanson was the lone unanimous winner of the award in 2023.
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In addition to the well-deserved recognition for elite defense this season, Swanson's win is also significant for the franchise, becoming just the second Cub to win the award, and the first to do so in a full season following Javier Baez's win in 2020.
The Fielding Bible Award was first awarded in 2006, and was made to more heavily weigh newly emerging advanced defensive metrics as opposed to traditional metrics such as errors, assists and fielding percentage, often weighed heavily in the Gold Glove award process.
While Silver Slugger finalists have yet to be announced by MLB, the Cubs do have three Gold Glove finalists in Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ. The winners will be unveiled on the evening of Nov. 5.
