Defensive player of the month: Giants SS Brandon Crawford

1:38 PM ET

San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford won his first Gold Glove last season. He may be an even better defensive player in 2016.

Crawford won voting among ESPN.com writers, researchers and analysts for ESPN Stats & Information and Baseball Info Solutions as the Defensive Player of the Month for May.

Crawford finished the month with six defensive runs saved, second among shortstops to Zack Cozart’s eight, but Crawford beat Cozart and others on the ballot because he was significantly better at making the really good play and avoiding mistakes.

Most Defensive Runs Saved

2016 Shortstops (Through end of May)

Brandon CrawfordGiants12Nick AhmedDiamondbacks9Zack CozartReds8Andrelton SimmonsAngels7

Crawford had 13 “good fielding plays” (think Web Gem-caliber) and only two “defensive misplays and errors.” His ratio of good plays to misplays and errors was 6.5-to-1 (best among shortstops who played at least half of their team’s games). The average ratio for a shortstop during the month is 1-to-1.

Crawford’s ability to avoid mistakes in 2016 has been remarkable. He had one error and three “defensive misplays and errors” in his first 52 games. The previous three seasons, Crawford averaged between 32 and 38 misplays and errors per 1,000 innings. This season, he’s on track for nine in his first 1,000 innings.

Twenty-three shortstops already have nine this season. None of them have even played 500 innings in 2016 (Crawford ended the month with 446).

Brandon Crawford has almost completely cut mistakes out of his game. ESPN Stats …

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