The first Matt Goldman's AL Gold glove was deserved and here's why

When the winners of the 2018 Rawlings Gold Glove Award are announced on Sunday, the A's will have four chances to win. Their entire inner field was chosen as a finalist.

Third baseman Matt Chapman, Marcus Semien, second baseman Jed Lowrie and first baseman Matt Olson each look to be A's first player to win a gold glove since Josh Reddick in 2012. Here is an overview of their competition:

Third base

nominees: Matt Chapman (OAK), Alex Bregman (HOU), Jose Ramirez (CLE)

Chapman is the clear favorite here. A third baseman led the entire MLB with 29 defensive innings saved and a 19.5 SABR Defensive Index. He led all third base with a score of 10.9 for the Ultimate Zone (UZR) and a score of 0.83.

Bregman has had an outstanding season in Houston, both offensive and defensive, and will receive many votes from MVP. Ramirez will probably be too. But defensively, Chapman is in a league of his own.

Prediction: Matt Chapman

Short stop

nominees: Marcus Semien (OAK), Andrelton Simmons (LAA), Francisco Lindor (CLE)

Semien has made incredible defensive progress, but he is probably the elite sniper of this group. Simmons led AL stops with 21 saves on the defensive, Lindor 14 and Semien with nine. Simmons also led the way with a UZR of 19.7.

The best case of Semien is its 11.6 SABR Defensive Index, the best among the AL stop points. Simmons and Lindor tied for third in 8.0. Still, Simmons must be considered the favorite.

Prediction: Andrelton Simmons

Second base

nominees: Jed Lowrie (OAK), Ian Kinsler (BOS), Wheat Smell (TEX)

Lowrie led AL's second goal with a .993 percentage, making only four errors in any season. Its .845 zone rating also ranked first in the group and its ultimate zone rating was 6.1 at the third.

However, Lowrie scored only one saved defense, as opposed to 10 for Kinsler and Odor. Kinsler dominated AL's second goal with a score of 7.0 SABR Defensive Index. Smell was second with 6.4 and Lowrie third with 4.9. Kinsler is probably a slight favorite over Odor.

Prediction: Ian Kinsler

First base

nominees: Matt Olson (OAK), Mitch Moreland (BOS), Justin Smoak (TOR)

Olson should have a strong chance to give A's golden glove to every corner of the infield. He led the first AL players in the SABR defensive index with a score of 5.8, compared to 1.5 for Moreland and 0.2 for Smoak.

Olson dominated the first goal with 14 points of defense, a score of 0.913 and a score of 11.6. Moreland had 0 DRS and Smoak finished with -3. Olson was also the only first-baseman in the majors to play all 162 games.

Prediction: Matt Olson