Reds’ Phillips beats out Barney for Gold Glove

It’s a second baseman’s job to rob the opposition of base hits during a baseball game.

But you can’t blame the Cubs’ Darwin Barney if he was muttering “I was robbed” Tuesday night as he failed to repeat as the Rawlings Gold Glove winner at his position.

Despite being the statistical leader in several traditional and advanced categories, Barney lost out to the Cincinnati Reds’ Brandon Phillips, who regained the Gold Glove Barney took from him in 2012. The other finalist at second base was the Dodgers’ Mark Ellis.

Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo was a finalist for a possible first Gold Glove, but he finished behind winner Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Coaches and managers in the National and American Leagues vote for the Gold Gloves in their respective leagues, and this year, Rawlings added a sabermetrics component to the criteria in conjunction with the Society for American Baseball Research.

Barney committed just 4 errors this year and had a .993 fielding percentage. He also had a UZR (ultimate zone rating) of 12.5. Phillips made 9 errors and had a fielding percentage of .987 and a UZR of 8.6. Other statistical criteria also were taken into consideration.

For Phillips, it was his fourth Gold Glove overall. He is a flashier player than Barney, and that may have held sway with managers and coaches, whose votes factored for about 75 percent of the total weight with the sabermetrics component making up the other 25 percent.

Fall League all-stars: Cubs prospect Kris Bryant, Albert Almora and Jorge Soler have been named Arizona Fall League all-stars. Bryant, a third baseman, was the Cubs#146; No. 1 draft pick this year while center fielder Almora was their top pick last season. Soler, an outfielder, signed a major league contract in the summer of 2012 after defecting from Cuba. It#146;s possible all three players, along with shortstop Javier Baez (who opted out of the Fall League) could see big-league action at some point in 2014.