Last night, MLB announced its winners for the Golden Gloves. There were 20 winners due to the fact that now there is also a Golden Glove for utility players.
Here is the list of winners.
What we notice is that no less than 13 players are receiving their first award of this kind, including pitchers Zack Wheeler and Jose Berrios. I worry less about titles for pitchers, let’s say.
Gabriel Moreno is a name that jumps out at you. After all, the Blue Jays don’t have a catcher who won a Gold Glove this year. Jonah Heim won in the American.
Ke’Bryan Hayes won at third base in the National League. For the first time in his career, Nolan Arenado did not win this honor. He wasn’t even nominated this season.
Anthony Volpe, a rookie shortstop, also won. It’s noticeable.
I also remember, among those who won for the first time, that Fernando Tatis Jr. won a Gold Glove as a right fielder… even if he missed the start of the season in his new position.
Of the 20 guys who won and the seven who already had a title on hand, five are on their second honor. And in all five cases, the first Golden Glove was acquired in 2022.
What about the other two guys? These are two players who spent the season with the Toronto Blue Jays, who are currently free as air and who won their fourth title.
We are talking here about Matt Chapman (2018, 2019 and 2021 in Oakland) as well as Kevin Kiermaier (2015, 2016 and 2019 in Tampa Bay), two defensive masters.
Including Berrios, the Blue Jays have three Gold Glove winners. It’s the same for the Rangers and the Cubs.
Alejandro Kirk and Daulton Varsho (who should have won, according to Chris Bassitt) are the other Blue Jays players who were nominated.
18 of the 20 winners had never won such a title before last year. Yes, MLB is getting younger and younger.
Note that the Platinum Glove (best defensive player in each league) and the team Golden Glove (one per league again) have not yet been awarded.
- Brian Cashman will be speaking to the media soon.
- Johnny Cueto and Matt Barnes are free.
- Alex Cobb remains in San Francisco, but Sean Manaea becomes a free agent.
