Mike Trout and Bryce Harper are among the top defensive players in Major League Baseball competing to win Gold Glove awards for their performances during the 2019 season. 

Rawlings Sports announced the list of 54 finalists split between the American League and National League for the awards on Thursday. 

2019 American League Gold Glove Finalists

Pitcher: Jose Berrios (Minnesota Twins), Mike Leake (Seattle Mariners/Arizona Diamondbacks), Lucas Giolito (Chicago White Sox)

Catcher: Danny Jansen (Toronto Blue Jays), Christian Vazquez (Boston Red Sox), Roberto Perez (Cleveland Indians)

First Base: Matt Olson (Oakland Athletics), Justin Smoak (Toronto Blue Jays), Yuli Gurriel (Houston Astros)

Second Base: Jose Altuve (Houston Astros), DJ LeMahieu (New York Yankees), Yolmer Sanchez (Chicago White Sox)

Third Base: Alex Bregman (Houston Astros), David Fletcher (Los Angeles Angels), Matt Chapman (Oakland Athletics)

Shortstop: Marcus Semien (Oakland Athletics), Francisco Lindor (Cleveland Indians), Andrelton Simmons (Los Angeles Angels)

Left Field: Robbie Grossman (Oakland Athletics), Alex Gordon (Kansas City Royals), Andrew Benintendi (Boston Red Sox)

Center Field: Kevin Kiermaier (Tampa Bay Rays), Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels), Jackie Bradley Jr. (Boston Red Sox)

Right Field: Kole Calhoun (Los Angeles Angels), Mookie Betts (Boston Red Sox), Josh Reddick (Houston Astros)

2019 National League Gold Glove Finalists

Pitcher: Jack Flaherty (St. Louis Cardinals), Zack Greinke (Arizona Diamondbacks/Houston Astros), Aaron Nola (Philadelphia Phillies)

Catcher: Austin Hedges (San Diego Padres), Yadier Molina (St. Louis Cardinals), J.T. Realmuto (Philadelphia Phillies)

First Base: Christian Walker (Arizona Diamondbacks), Paul Goldschmidt (St. Louis Cardinals), Anthony Rizzo (Chicago Cubs)

Second Base: Ozzie Albies (Atlanta Braves), Kolten Wong (St. Louis Cardinals), Adam Frazier (Pittsburgh Pirates)

Third Base: Nolan Arenado (Colorado Rockies), Anthony Rendon (Washington Nationals), Josh Donaldson (Atlanta Braves)

Shortstop: Paul DeJong (St. Louis Cardinals), Trevor Story (Colorado Rockies), Nick Ahmed (Arizona Diamondbacks)

Left Field: Juan Soto (Washington Nationals), David Peralta (Arizona Diamondbacks), Hunter Renfroe (San Diego Padres)

Center Field: Victor Robles (Washington Nationals), Lorenzo Cain (Milwaukee Brewers), Harrison Bader (St. Louis Cardinals)

Right Field: Bryce Harper (Philadelphia Phillies), Jason Heyward (Chicago Cubs), Cody Bellinger (Los Angeles Dodgers)

For all of the accolades Trout has won throughout his MLB career—including a possible third AL MVP award this year—the one thing that has eluded him is a Gold Glove. The Angels superstar was a finalist last year but lost out to Jackie Bradley Jr. 

Trout will once again be competing against Bradley, as well as Kevin Kiermaier, in the battle to be the best defensive center fielder in the AL. 

The numbers point to Kiermaier being vastly superior to Trout and Bradley on defense. He led all qualified AL center fielders in defensive value (8.7), ultimate zone rating (6.9) and defensive runs saved (13). Trout and Bradley both cost their team one defensive run and had negative ultimate zone ratings. 

Harper also looks to be fighting an uphill battle for his first career Gold Glove award. Los Angeles Dodgers star and NL MVP candidate Cody Bellinger led all qualified right fielders in defensive value (4.8) and had 10 more defensive runs saved (19) than Harper (nine). 

Voters could favor Harper because he played 400 more innings in right field than Bellinger, who also played first base and center field. 

One thing that immediately stands out from the list of finalists is how strong the crop of defensive catchers in MLB is right now. 

Per FanGraphs defensive value, the top four players from the 2019 season were catchers. Milwaukee Brewers catcher Yasmani Grandal was the only one from that group not to be named a Gold Glove finalist.

J.T. Realmuto of the Philadelphia Phillies was first (27.8), followed by Grandal (23.4), Christian Vazquez of the Boston Red Sox (22.2) and Roberto Perez of the Cleveland Indians (20.1). 

Grandal also may have been squeezed out because of Yadier Molina's history and reputation. The Brewers star appeared in 40 more games than Molina in 2019 and ranked second in MLB, behind fellow NL finalist Austin Hedges of the San Diego Padres, in framing runs and third in fielding runs above average.

The battle for supremacy among American League shortstops is fascinating, even though its a repeat of all three finalists from 2018.

Marcus Semien was seemingly unsuited for the position early in his career with 56 total errors in 2015-16. He's turned himself into a star defender, particularly in 2019 when he led all qualified AL shortstops in defensive value.

"I've never seen as big a transformation in any major-league player, from '15 when he started making all those errors, to where he is right now," A's manager Bob Melvin told The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal about Semien's defensive improvement. 

Semien is competing against Francisco Lindor and Andrelton Simmons, who have combined to win each of the last three Gold Glove awards among AL shortstops. 

Simmons is seemingly at a disadvantage because he sat out 59 games during the regular season due to injuries. Even with that missed time, though, his defensive value was higher (14.9) than Semien's (14.1) and he led AL shortstops with 14 runs saved. 

Even though there were plenty of holdover nominees, the voters did do a good job of adding new candidates to choose from this year. 

The AL, in particular, had a lot of turnover with an entirely new slate of finalists at catcher, pitcher and second base from the 2018 group. 

From an overall team perspective, it's not surprising to see the Cardinals, Athletics and Arizona Diamondbacks well-represented on this list of finalists. St. Louis committed the fewest errors in MLB (66) this season and ranked third in overall defensive value.

Oakland's defense led MLB in defensive value (42.9). Arizona was a close second in that category (41.2) and finished second with 117 defensive runs saved.

Stats via FanGraphs.com