Major League Baseball announced the 2022 Gold Glove award winners this evening. This season was the first in which the league added a “utility” award to honor multi-positional players, in addition to the standard nine positions in each league. There are 20 winners overall, 14 of whom received a Gold Glove for the first time. Only two players who won last year claimed the award yet again.
Five teams had multiple winners, with the AL Central-winning Guardians leading the pack with four honorees. Cleveland ranked fourth in the majors (third in the American League) in turning balls in play into outs, with opponents managing a .274 batting average on balls in play against them. That excellent defensive group was an underrated part of the quality run prevention unit that helped Cleveland to a surprising playoff berth.
Here are the full list of winners:
American League
Pitcher: Shane Bieber (Guardians), 1st career selection
Other finalists: José Berríos (Blue Jays), Jameson Taillon (Yankees)
Catcher: Jose Trevino (Yankees), 1st career selection
Other finalists: Sean Murphy (Athletics), Cal Raleigh (Mariners)
First Base: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays), 1st career selection
Other finalists: Luis Arraez (Twins), Anthony Rizzo (Yankees)
Second Base: Andrés Giménez (Guardians), 1st career selection
Other finalists: Jonathan Schoop (Tigers), Marcus Semien (Rangers)
Third Base: Ramón Urías (Orioles), 1st career selection
Other finalists: Matt Chapman (Blue Jays), José Ramírez (Guardians)
Shortstop: Jeremy Peña (Astros), 1st career selection
Other finalists: Xander Bogaerts (Red Sox), Carlos Correa (Twins)
Left Field: Steven Kwan (Guardians), 1st career selection
Other finalists: Andrew Benintendi (Royals/Yankees), Brandon Marsh (Angels/Phillies)
Center Field: Myles Straw (Guardians), 1st career selection
Other finalists: Cedric Mullins (Orioles), Michael A. Taylor (Royals)
Right Field: Kyle Tucker (Astros), 1st career selection
Other finalists: Jackie Bradley Jr. (Red Sox/Blue Jays), Max Kepler (Twins)
Utility: DJ LeMahieu (Yankees), 4th career selection
Other finalists: Whit Merrifield (Royals/Blue Jays), Luis Rengifo (Angels)
National League
Pitcher: Max Fried (Braves), 3rd career selection/3rd consecutive win
Other finalists: Tyler Anderson (Dodgers), Corbin Burnes (Brewers)
Catcher: J.T. Realmuto (Phillies), 2nd career selection
Other finalists: Travis d’Arnaud (Braves), Tomás Nido (Mets)
First Base: Christian Walker (Diamondbacks), 1st career selection
Other finalists: Paul Goldschmidt (Cardinals), Matt Olson (Braves)
Second Base: Brendan Rodgers (Rockies), 1st career selection
Other finalists: Jake Cronenworth (Padres), Tommy Edman (Cardinals)
Third Base: Nolan Arenado (Cardinals), 10th career selection/10th consecutive win
Other finalists: Ke’Bryan Hayes (Pirates), Ryan McMahon (Rockies)
Shortstop: Dansby Swanson (Braves), 1st career selection
Other finalists: Ha-Seong Kim (Padres), Miguel Rojas (Marlins)
Left Field: Ian Happ (Cubs), 1st career selection
Other finalists: David Peralta (Diamondbacks/Rays), Christian Yelich (Brewers)
Center Field: Trent Grisham (Padres), 2nd career selection
Other finalists: Víctor Robles (Nationals), Alek Thomas (Diamondbacks)
Right Field: Mookie Betts (Dodgers), 6th career selection
Other finalists: Juan Soto (Nationals/Padres), Daulton Varsho (Diamondbacks)
Utility: Brendan Donovan (Cardinals), 1st career selection
Other finalists: Tommy Edman (Cardinals), Daulton Varsho (Diamondbacks)
Arenado. 10 straight! amazing
Especially since Hayes should have won this year and if he had enough innings to qualify, likely last year as well. At least Arenado is still very good and not solely living off his reputation ala Jeter and Molina in years past.
Lol Arenado was literally Better in almost every category than Hayes… Pirates will suck forever
Obviously you don’t know how to read…Not only did the 25-year-old Hayes have the most defensive runs saved(24) of the three finalists, but, per FanGraphs, was worth more Outs Above Average (18), had the highest fielding percentage (.972) and the most putouts (109), assists (307) and chances (428).
Arenado finished with 19 DRS, 15 OAA, a .968 fielding percentage, with 84 putouts and 283 assists in 379 chances. Arenado and Hayes had a dozen errors each…
Hayes robbed at third… Not only did the 25-year-old Hayes have the most defensive runs saved(24) of the three finalists, but, per FanGraphs, was worth more Outs Above Average (18), had the highest fielding percentage (.972) and the most putouts (109), assists (307) and chances (428).
Arenado finished with 19 DRS, 15 OAA, a .968 fielding percentage, with 84 putouts and 283 assists in 379 chances. Arenado and Hayes had a dozen errors each…
Hayes lead majors in defense runs saved saved with 24. Arrenado was sixth w 19
Hayes lead the majors in defensive runs saved
Lol, might want to check those 2022 stats.
jramey you’re crazy. Hayes topped him in every category but double plays, only 2 fewer. Arenado is a great player but this is reputation not facts.
You really are arrogant. Hayes was better than Arenado and still missed out on a gold glove. They only hand awards out to winning teams and not the best overall defensive or offensive players. These awards are a joke and can’t be taken seriously anymore.
Hey, aside from maybe 2018, Molina fully deserved all his Gold Gloves and even a couple before he started winning them!. Once he was no longer in his prime, he stopped winning the award.
Arenado has made some of the best defensive plays I’ve ever seen at 3rd base…. I watched Scott Rolen in his prime. And it’s like every game Arenado makes a play that just leaves you flabbergasted
Agreed, McMahon was a finalist and he was an error machine this year unlike previous years.
seeing Juan Soto as a finalist just ruined gold glove for me. he is terrible…TERRIBLE
Raphael Palmeiro’s GG didn’t ruin it for you? He got it for 1B despite being the DH.
Palmeiro winning anything other than a poorly attended Keith Hernandez look alike content is just wrong.
Agreed.
seeing Juan Soto as a finalist just ruined gold glove for me.
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The GG’s have been a joke for a long time. Jeter won 5 GGs. His DRS for those 5 years was -58. His career DRS is the highest negative in the history of the game.
I just look to the Fielding Bible awards by James. Tired of seeing hitting prowess used as a metric for fielding.
Wtf was Juan Soto doing there between the nominees for a Gold Glove? Get out of there!
Blame the managers and coaches. The account for 75% of the score. The other 25% is from defensive metrics.
It’s not nominees per say. Just that he was in the top 3. If it was a landslide win and he was #3 with 5% of the vote he’s still a finalist.
AL went all first timers .. amazing .. and the utility GG seems unnecessary
I wish Javy Baez had been eligible for utility Gold Glove.
Didn’t Javy lead the league in errors??
He is flashy and helps a lot but I remember a Cubs game when he had like 5 errors in a game. I think the only reason he won the gold glove in 2020 was due to the shorten season… Less chances to get those errors.
He is flashy and helps a lot but I remember a Cubs game when he had like 5 errors in a game. I think the only reason he won the gold glove in 2020 was due to the shorten season… Less chances to get those errors.
Duplicate post my bad.
6 for Mookie isn’t bad. 3 or 4 more to go for him.
It is a joke that Donaldson wasn’t even in the running, despite how I feel about him personally. Moreover, Vlad over Rizzo seems………. incorrect.
Shame that decisions with the GG for some players ruin it for those who actually do win them. But, that’s what happens when 75% is popularity!
They gave DJL and his broken toe one as a consolation prize.
DJLM actually deserved it even with the missed time.
Seems… incorrect.
What an argument!
Vlad was greatly improved, but considering a scarecrow could have been his defensive replacement last year, that’s not a high bar. It’s not just Rizzo. I’d have to think harder for a listing of 1B worse then him, than the ones who are better.
Just laughably incorrect
OAA and DRS had him higher than Rizzo and the other nominee. I’m not going to pretend I watch every game and see Vlad play or anyone else for that matter so that’s all the information I have to go on.
I will say, Rizzo still makes nice plays and can pick it at first but he’s lost a step defensively. At least when he played for the Cubs he lost a step, can’t imagine he greatly improved in New York and the metrics didn’t like his defense that much either.
Wait, there is a GG for “utility” now?
Yeah, there’s so many players that play multiple positions.
no credibility at all in these awards … Vlad? over Rizzo? 10E, .990 Fielding % ??? Soto a finalist … for GG???? The eye test would certainly tell you otherwise – that he is a DH in waiting!!!
Add Yelich to your list. As a Brewer fan, there’s no way he should be considered for a GG in 2022. Hell, Cutch was better defensively than the other Brewer OF’s except maybe Cain early in the year.
Rizzo wasn’t that good this year but I can’t believe they couldn’t find anybody better than Vlad for that award.
Why? Vlad really improved this year at the position and made some plays that very few if any 1b could make
Funny how you all are just starting to question the legitimacy of the GG now that we have advanced metrics to reveal how many mediocre defenders win/are nominated for this award. Where were you all when Molina and Jeter were winning these every year?
People have known that some players win on reputation or offensive production for decades.
Yet everyone seems to trip over themselves to claim that Yadier Mid-lina is the greatest defensive catcher of all time
Maybe not all time, but Molina was certainly the best defensive catcher of the 21st Century so far.
Well, at least since 2008 once Ivan Rodriguez was past his prime.
I was in a bar from 8 until midnight, officer. And there were at least a dozen witnesses. Why, am I a suspect?
It’s a popularity contest…
“The Gold Glove Awards are voted on by 30 MLB managers and up to six coaches from each team. They are not allowed to vote for players from their own team.”
Jeter, yes, but Molina always deserved it except maybe in 2018.
Walker deserved it and had a very productive offensive year as well. Nicely done young man!
@Ghost Zapper; agreed; liked him Baltimore. Happy he found a fit in Arizona. Quietly goes about his business!
Not sure why, but seems like this award is kinda watered down these days. Maybe metrics have kinda taken the fun out of the eye test, so now there’s less human analysis and more computers deciding which player wins… even if they don’t seem like they deserve to win.
Very watered down. Has been for a long time, unfortunately. I think the Fielding Bible Awards tend to be more accurate….
Jorge Mateo won that for SS and the award is for the entire majors. He wasn’t nominated for Gold Glove.
The other winners won Gold Gloves except
Edman for utility and Ranger Suarez for pitcher.
Yes, you’re exactly right, Donny. And, the ones that are in FBA & also won GG are actually defensively adept players. For example, 1B went to Christian Walker – okay, I can understand Walker getting it over Rizzo…. It’s not like they’re choosing Vlad or whomever. Same with the other positions, which is why I tend to put more stock in their awards.
I believe the eye test is critical, especially coming from MLB players because they have experience day-in and day-out. But, the 75% vote always throws undeserving players in the mix.
I think the Fielding Bible Awards tend to be more accurate….
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The Fielding Bible is my go-to source. But even if you want to consider other sources first, there should be some similarity. In this year’s vote:
Soto finished 20th.
Yelich finished 19th.
Bogaerts finished 19th.
Much better than seeing terrible defensive players like Jeter win multiple Gold Gloves.
If computers decided who wins, I think it’s safe to say Soto wouldn’t have gotten one. We still have voters to botch the results if you like the human element of it.
They should let the writers vote on GG awards and take away their voting on the Hall of Fame. I’ve never understood why the Hall of Fame voting wasn’t left up to all living inactive MLB players. Instead, writers that have clear bias towards teams they cover decide on the enshrined.
Bc player voting will inherently be biased whereas writers do pretend to be subjective. There would be no way Mariano Rivera would get in unanimously.
Writers picking the best players is like busboys picking the best chefs. They judge the performance of jobs they couldn’t do if their lives depended on it.
That’s a bit backwards. Players obviously have strong relationships, both positive and negative, with their peers, who they interact with under very emotional conditions in games, and in the locker room. That’s got to create more bias than simply covering a team.
You mean objective.
No, it’s more like customers picking the best chefs. Or even more like food critics picking the best chef. Your analogy of busboys would apply very well to the grounds crew.
Customers pay and therefore have a valid opinion. Busboys do not. Either do sportswriters.
And he should not have been. no justification for a reliever being the first unanimous selection. Just parochial NY-based sportswriters flexing.
Analogies like these result in an SAT verbal score of 280.
Customers of baseball and restaurants can’t do the jobs of chefs or ballplayers either. You blew yourself up with this ridiculous and foolish analogy.
Yes, most like food critics – people who have a deeper understaning than the average person.
take away their voting on the Hall of Fame.
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The HOF voting is also a joke. Scott Rolen received 10.2% of the vote his first ballot. That means 89.8% of the voters didn’t think he is a HOF.
4 years after that, he gets 63.2% of the vote, meaning that over 50% of the voters changed their minds. IMO, he should be automatic. But I can see a couple of voters being on the fence. But > 50% changed their minds?
That’s because a lot of writers have no idea who he is, and only checked the stats after other writers started voting for him. Same with Wagner. He’s gone from 10% to > 50%.
I think it’s more the writers working on the backlog of players and getting a consensus built to push someone over 75% that is running out of eligibility. There was a logjam on the ballots not too long ago where the maximum ten votes per writer was not enough to allocate to all the worthy players.
Well, those voters who consider the PED-connected players to be worthy had a backlog…
Hello Twitter Folks-
What’s next Eloy Jimenez beats Yordan Alvarez for GG in LF
I’m just saying…
Who won the Gold Glove at DH?
Palmeiro
Micheal Harris got screwed should have gotten GG in CF let alone being completely left off the list
Rizzo got robbed.
Every single one that won a GG for Cleveland genuinely deserved it.
Gold Gloves are the Milli Vanilli of MLB.
Was Bogaerts defense this season a marked improvement over years past?
I don’t think Edman should ve able to be listed at multiple categories/positions. If a guy is truly a “utility” player, then by definition he isn’t a starter at any one position.
He wasn’t the only one. There were others who quified at multiple categories – including Varsho – but the point remains that if a player had enough games to qualify at a specific position, then he’s not a utility player.
Well, Edman wasn’t a starter at a single position. He split his time between 2B and SS almost evenly this season. Edman should’ve qualified *only* at Utility and *not* at either 2B nor SS.
The real issue is that there aren’t any requirements to qualify at a position. As such, Edman and Varsho had their votes unfairly split between Utility and 2B/RF respectively, and as such allowed Donovan to snatch the Utility award out from under their noses.
Left field is the only position the ‘versatile’ Ian Happ is capable of earning a Gold Glove at. Good for him AND the Cubs for recognizing that. Shame on the White Sox for not seeing that with all their 1B/DH ‘outfielders’.
The Gold Glove has been a joke since Palmiero won one playing DH the whole season.
This season is no different.
So now that he has won the Fielding Bible and Gold Glove, can MLBTR writers and commenters stop claiming Walker isn’t a good 1B? I mean he just beat out the guy he replaced for crying out loud.
Typical. The Yankees/RedSox show. I wish just once the east coast sports media could lose the homerism and bias for one season. But it’ll never happen.
David Peralta only played 87 games in NL, 75 in OF, 4 as a DH, and 8 as a pinch-hitter. How could he be a LF finalist?
Players should not be eligible for more than one position for a gold glove. The fact that no mcneil or Luis G were involved is ridiculous. Glad winning in the AL is a joke. Very poorly done this year.
Utility? Oh, give me a break. What’s next? A Cy Young award for best 4th-man in every team’s rotation?
They give Cy to relievers, so…
Many players have a starter’s workload while playing multiple positions regularly. They shouldn’t be snubbed for defensive awards just because they don’t have a primary position.
Walker over Goldschmidt is a travesty. I mean come on….
The sad part is the writers use these popularity contest awards for HOF voting.
Analytics are turning MLB into paint-by-numbers. Some of these winners are puzzling.
Puzzling, yes, but not the fault of analytics. Both the numbers and the eye test tell us that players such as Juan Soto are nominated not for their defensive play but because of the offensive production and their star power.
Ra – understood. I was referring more to the discussion around Gold Gloves – it all has the natural flow of math textbook. I suppose I’m old school, miss the former way of discussing baseball. The “eye test” as someone referenced above. Have a good day, Ra.
Take care
What, no White Sox?
Mets got fleeced on the Lindor trade.
When your favorite player wins a gold glove, your favorite team will have to shell out more money to sign him, so is it a good thing for them to win?
That depends on the team’s market and payroll outlay. For the A’s and Pirates, for example, it increases the player price tag for potential trade partners.
Does it really drive up trade value? Do you think GMs don’t have their own valuation of players’ defense? I do not believe they are impressed by awards and judge players by trophies rather than their in-house analytics.
Kim was robbed of that gold glove
It is aggravating that Nico Hoerner gets no respect.
Machado was spectacular at 3rd and should be included.
Well, now we know that the rules for the new utility position need an overhaul, as there’s no way Donovan is a better fielder than Edman or Varsho! Just because you can play more positions decently doesn’t necessarily mean you can play them well.
Since Edman and Varsho were also finalists at another position, we can determine what happened here. It’s bad enough that someone could potentially win multiple Gold Gloves in the same season, but they didn’t even bother to combine all the votes that Edman and Varsho got!
Edman and Varsho must’ve unfairly had their votes split between Ultility and 2B/RF respectively (and likely some SS votes for Edman, as well.). While there is also a sabermetric component, the votes still count for 75% of the points. While it may technically be within the rules to vote for players at multiple positions, most voters wouldn’t think to do so. For example, a typical voter may decide to vote for Varsho at the best option in RF, but once he gets to Utility, he picks someone else since he already voted for Varsho to win in LF
As such, they need to change the rules for the Utility Gold Glove as follows:
1) Determine eligibility for the Utility Gold Glove: This can be done by either requiring a minimum number of Gold Glove votes at the Utility position, or preferably determining a minimum percentage of defensive innings played to determine a fielder’s primary position with only those who fail to qualify at any primary position to then be eligible at Utility.
2) A manager or coach may only vote for an individual player once on his ballot; or he may only vote for a player at his eligible position, Utility included.
3) Those eligible for the Utility Gold Glove are then ineligible at all other positions that season. The votes they then may have received at other positions are combined with their Utility position votes.
How the hell does Matt Chapman not win a gold glove?! The man is literally a hoover vacuum! Absolutely ridiculous!!!
Because household appliances aren’t eligible to play Major League Baseball? Seriously, don’t misuse the word “literally” like that.
Guerrero Jr.??? Are these voters smoking too much BC Bud ??? OR not enough? You mean. the same Guerrero Jr. who had a ball go thru the webbing of his glove TWICE !!!! One time is enough, brah. And Brendan Rodgers, the Seattle Mariners need a second baseman, and the Good Ship Mariner is quite likely to contend again so just giving ya a heads up so the impending trade won’t take you by surprise.
They figured Vladdy needs a solid metal replacement glove more than anybody. This one won’t get a hole.