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Gonzalez adds to Padres' awards haul

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By Corey Brock / MLB.com

11/16/09 10:58 PM EST

SAN DIEGO -- Give Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez a hand for winning his second Gold Glove Award with his, well, glove.

In 2009, Gonzalez became the latest Padre to win a significant postseason award, when he captured his second consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove.

Gonzalez is the only Padres first baseman to win it and the seventh player in club history to win multiple Gold Glove Awards.

The other Padres players to do so are Dave Winfield, Ozzie Smith, Tony Gwynn, Benito Santiago, Steve Finley and Ken Caminiti.

"You're aware of him defensively," Padres eanager Bud Black said of Gonzalez. "When you feel a defender who is great, you notice it. And I think it works the other way, too. When you feel a defender who is not as great, you feel that as well.

"When a ball is hit off the bat in Adrian's direction, you feel good about that. That's the benchmark I go by. When you see a play being made [by Gonzalez] ... you always think that it's going to be made."

Gonzalez finished the season tied for fourth in the National League with a .995 fielding percentage. He made seven errors in 156 games and 1,367 chances. Only Albert Pujols of St. Louis played in more games (157) than Gonzalez. Pujols had 13 errors.

Gonzalez and Black both agreed that Gonzalez didn't make as many plays with his arm in 2009 -- one of Gonzalez's strengths, according to Black -- as he did in 2008, though it was because there were simply fewer chances to do so.

"I really think a lot of the things this year were based off of last year ... with teams not wanting to bunt your [direction], or do things your way," said Gonzalez, who earned an additional $50,000 for winning the award.

The Padres have been represented well over the years in postseason awards.

In 1996, Ken Caminiti won the NL MVP, as voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Other prominent award winners include Randy Jones (1976), Gaylord Perry (1978), Mark Davis (1989) and Jake Peavy (2007), who each won the NL Cy Young Award.

Bruce Bochy was named NL Manager of the Year by the BBWAA in 1996, and Smith, Winfield, Gwynn, Santiago, Caminiti, Finley, Mike Cameron, Greg Maddux and Gonzalez have won Gold Glove Awards.

Terry Kennedy, Gwynn, Garry Templeton, Santiago, McGriff, Caminiti, Greg Vaughn and Mark Loretta each won Silver Slugger Awards.

Corey Brock is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.