Twins

NOTEBOOK: Dozier, Buxton Bring Home Gold Glove Hardware; Tonkin's Contract Sold to Japan

Two Minnesota Twins defenders were recognized for their outstanding work as MLB award season got underway, as second baseman Brian Dozier and center fielder Byron Buxton each won their first Gold Glove awards, as presented by glove manufacturer Rawlings.

This season marked the 60th anniversary of Rawlings handing out the award.

Dozier beat out Detroit’s Ian Kinsler and Boston’s Dustin Pedroia, while Buxton took home the honors ahead of Toronto’s Kevin Pillar and Kansas City’s Lorenzo Cain. In Dozier’s case, he beat out previous winners as Kinsler was in search of his second Gold Glove in a row at second base while Pedroia has won four times.

Buxton and Dozier are the 42nd and 43rd winners in club history, as the team issued a release listing the previous winners:

image courtesy of Twins PR

Dozier and Buxton represented the first time the Twins had multiple winners in exactly a decade, as Johan Santana and Torii Hunter won in 2007, and the team’s first winner since Joe Mauer won for the third straight year at catcher in 2010.

Dozier is just the second Twins second baseman in club history to win a Gold Glove — Chuck Knoblauch in 1997 — while Buxton joined Hunter and the late Kirby Puckett as the only center fielders to win with the Twins.

Puckett won six Gold Gloves, while Hunter reeled in seven. Pitcher Jim Kaat has the club record with 11 Gold Gloves, which he won in consecutive years between 1962-72.

The Twins also did a little more 40-man roster tweaking, as reliever Michael Tonkin’s contract was sold to the Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Pacific League in Japan, according to Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Tonkin is expected to close for the Ham Fighters, and with success could see his way back to the big leagues in the near future. Notable alumni of the team include Yu Darvish, former Twin Bobby Keppel and of course, Shohei Otani, who is attempting to come over to the United States and play this offseason. He’s hired CAA agent Nez Balelo, who also represents current Twins pitcher Phil Hughes and former Twin Trevor Plouffe.


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