Is Jeter on his was to his first legitimate gold glove?

We all know the gold glove award is a popularity contest and usually the most deserving players lose out to the big name guys. That's how Jeter won his first three gold gloves. What, you thought it was his stellar defense?

If you don't believe me let's look at some stats, specifically UZR/150, which is "UZR Runs Above Average per 150 Defensive Games." UZR, or Ultimate Zone Rating, is "The number of runs above or below average a fielder is in both range runs, outfield arm runs, double play runs and error runs combined." So basically if you have a negative UZR that's the number of runs you've cost your team, and if it's positive that's the number of runs you've saved for your team.

Jeter won gold gloves three years in a row from 2004 to 2006. In 2004 he had the ninth worst UZR/150 in the majors at -0.4, in '05 he sunk to the third worst with a -12.6, and in '06 he had the fourth worst with -7.2.

Now let's fast forward to 2009, a season where I can tell with my own eyes that Jeter is having by far his best defensive year ever, and you know what, the stats back it up. As NoMaas pointed out last night Jeter currently ranks fourth in all of baseball and second in the American League behind only Elvis Andrus of the Rangers with a +9 UZR/150.

A couple things have led to Jeter's improved defense, one being Mark Teixeira and his gold glove over at first base. He's probably saved the Captain at least five or six throwing errors already this year. But there's another thing that's helped even more than Tex, and that's his improved range. As Bryan Hoch pointed out last week, Jeter has worked very hard on improving that area of his game and it's paying off big time.

Upon recommendation from the Yankees, Jeter had already started working to improve his range and mobility.

The Yanks saw some improvement in 2008, and as Jeter's second full season under the new conditioning program passes the midway point, the numbers are again focused on one of their favorite subjects. But this time, the raw data claims that Jeter, 35, is playing his best defensive baseball since he was in his 20s.

I happen to think he's playing his best defensive baseball ever.... Hoch goes on:

Upon recommendation from the Yankees, Jeter had already started working to improve his range and mobility.

The Yanks saw some improvement in 2008, and as Jeter's second full season under the new conditioning program passes the midway point, the numbers are again focused on one of their favorite subjects. But this time, the raw data claims that Jeter, 35, is playing his best defensive baseball since he was in his 20s.

Defensive positioning has also helped Jeter get to some balls he would not have in years past.

Thanks to a number of variables, Jeter has continued to find ways to turn back the hands of time defensively this year. He continued to follow the program outlined by Yankees strength and conditioning coach Dana Cavalea, but he has also been assisted by aggressive defensive positioning on the part of infield coach Mick Kelleher.

What Jeter has done is borderline ridiculous, and he deserves a ton of credit for doing so. Seriously, can you name any other ballplayer that has improved this much defensively at 35 years of age? Usually this is the time when they're moving positions because they just can't cut it anymore. Jeter looks like he well on his way to getting his fourth gold glove of his hall of fame career, and this time he'll finally deserve it.