Sports Info Solutions announced the winners of the 2025 Fielding Bible Awards today, the 20th year the awards have been given out. The awards are voted on by a panel of experts who consider statistical analysis, the eye test, and any other factors that they wish to utilize.
This year’s winners are:
- Catcher: Patrick Bailey, Giants
- First base: Matt Olson, Braves
- Second base: Nico Hoerner, Cubs
- Third base: Ke’Bryan Hayes, Reds
- Shortstop: Mookie Betts, Dodgers
- Left field: Steven Kwan, Guardians
- Center field: Ceddanne Rafaela, Red Sox
- Right field: Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres
- Pitcher: Max Fried, Yankees
- Multi-position: Ernie Clement, Blue Jays
- Player of the year: Patrick Bailey, Giants
- Team of the Year: Cubs
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Steven Kwan due for a 4th consecutive GG in 4 years in the bigs? Dude is one of the more unheralded players out there for sure. Not to mention one of my favorite stats for hitters in their careers is how many walks compared to strikeouts they have. Kwan is 240 walks to 246 K’s.
Kwan has been consistently the most dangerous clutch hitter the Tigers have faced since he entered The Show. Nothing but respect for the man many Detroit fans consider Public Enemy #1…
He’s hit .257/.320/.381 against the Tigers for his career. I’m sure the Tigers have plenty worse to worry about!
That .381 slug is nothing to joke about. Must be giving Tiger pitcher’s nightmares this off season
Kwan is more scary than JRam in clutch situations??
He’s been a below average hitter in two of his four seasons. He’s a good player but mostly a really good glove.
Try 3 years. Only year hit good all year was 2022 his rookie year. The guy wants 30 million a year in extension talks. With last 3 year kwan had broken down the second half of the season. Will be lucky to get 20 million a year. He has a baseball body of white sox outfielder bentendei.
I once saw Kwan battle through a 15 pitch at bat to ultimately hit an opposite field single. He not only got on base but single handily wore the starting pitcher out of the game.
On the other hand, he is notorious himself for wearing down in August and September. In 2024 he basically went on the IL in September due to fatigue. His 5’7” 160 lb frame is not made for the fight till you die style that he plays.
Here’s a trivia question: Name the player who hit a home run on a 18-pitch AB.
Hint: He is now a manager. No fair googling it.
Feel like this wouldn’t be brought up now if it wasn’t Kurt Suzuki?
Good guess, but no. Another hint: He’s been managing for quite a while.
Counsell?
Nope. Another hint: he was playing for the Dodgers at the time.
Another hint: His brother played for the Mariners.
Still waiting for that shortstop experiment to crash and burn….
Patience, young grasshopper. You’ll be right one of these days… or years.
I don’t see this stopped clock ever being right. Mookie just keeps on getting better at his position.
Mookie is a fun player but c’mon… Bobby Witt is probably winning the Platinum Glove this year. Meanwhile… Maikel Garcia is definitely one of the 3 best 3B in MLB. Hayes is getting by on reputation.
The Fielding Bible has Hayes with 19 total runs saved, tied for 4th among all MLB players, behind only Ernie Clement, Steven Kwan, Ceddanne Rafaela, and tied with Patrick Bailey.
Baseball Savant has him with 21 OAA.
His bat may be a joke, but his glove is as serious as it gets.
Also, Baseball Savant loves Bobby Witt Jr., giving him 24 OAA. But the Fielding Bible doesn’t agree, putting him outside the top 125 best defenders with only 3 total runs saved. His ability to get a platinum glove, or even a gold glove will depend on what is valued more.
According to Fielding Bible, Garcia posted 13 Defensive Runs Saved to 19 for Hayes. Other defensive stats come to different conclusions, but this is the problem with defensive stats. Not everything in baseball can be easily quantified, and defense is one of them. This is why they take other methods into consideration — including the good old eye test.
There is also the old-reliable approach of going with multiple metrics/approaches at once, in order to help mute any shortcomings of any one approach. I suspect that is how most approach these awards.
If not for his injury this year Matt Chapman is not only the better defender than Hayes but can also hit.
If not for his natural aging, retirement and death at 86 years of age, Brooks Robinson was not only a better than Chapman but also the better hitter.
Oh yeah?!? Mike Schmidt blew them all away…in the batter’s box. Oh, I forgot this was not an article on Silver Slugger awards. /s
Brooks Robinson was an incredible player, but not really a better hitter than Chapman. Chapman’s career so far is his age 24 through 32 seasons. Compare his stats to Robinson’s same age seasons:
Robinson – .276/.329/.434, OPS .763, OPS+ 115
Chapman – .240/.330/.458, OPS .788, OPS+ 119
And right now Chapman has only 65 fewer HRs than Robinson had in his career. But as hitters they’re actually fairly equal, with Robinson better at contact, and Chapman with better power.
Schwarber got screwed.
If only Hayes could hit
If wishes and butts were candy and nuts. But if Varsho is healthy all year Jays probably top 5 defensive teams in history
The thing is though, Myles Straw replaced most if not all of the defensive value that was missing while Varsho was out. The team overall didn’t really suffer on defense, although the offense would have benefited from having Varsho over Straw at the plate.
So without him they’re not even the best in the league this season?
You can’t have Bichette’s glove at short and be considered the best defensive team. Center of the diamond positions are so important defensively.
There’s a reason why Toronto is still winning games with Bichette out. They should let him walk in the offseason and play a much cheaper glove.
Better ways to use the money it’ll take to bring him back. Let a bad team overpay.
I’m so ready for framing to be a meaningless metric…
That’s one vote for full-time ABS because framing will have value until then.
Yep, I can’t wait. Give me that consistent strike zone and no more arguing over it. Just toss em and be done with it.
I’m as ready as you for ABS but framing will still be important.
If there’s a fully ABS, framing is irrelevant.
With a challenge system, framing is still important.
Like framing is the only thing that makes a defensive catcher valuable. What about blocking balls in the dirt, pop time, and throwing out baserunners? All that will always be part of the game no matter what technology MLB adopts.
That’s without delving into their role in the calling of pitches and working well with the pitching staff. There’s a lot more that a catcher does than just framing.
He didn’t say anything about other skills, or imply they weren’t relevant. Why are you trying to make an argument out of nothing?
Apparently subtlety is lost on you. The implication was fairly clear, suggesting Bailey was the top catcher, and the top overall defender, merely because he’s the best at framing in MLB. I brought up the other skills because they are all factors in Bailey’s recognition as the best catcher, and overall defender.
Patrick Bailey is second in Catcher Framing Runs all time (baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/catcher-framing…). He did not debut until 2023 and the stat was tracked starting in 2018.
Bailey is a fantastic defensive catcher and he has to have more skills other than framing because if he can’t keep runners honest, block balls in the dirt, etc people will take extra bases all the time.
In fact, when catchers don’t need to practice framing, they can focus on all those other aspects.
Another indication of Ernie Clement’s value to the Jays!
They dfa him because he was a unlity player. Oakland picked him and dfa him before the blue jays picked up. You act like clement was a allstar. He nothing more then a bench player. Get a clue !
Mookie? LOL
Guess you weren’t paying close attention to him this season?
Are these awards only based on fielding or is hitting involved too.Because if you are a good hitter,it makes you a better fielder.
Believe it or not, the Fielding Bible awards are for … fielding.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Gold Glove awards are also for fielding yet it looks like many people don’t ignore offense when voting.
For example: Jeter in general.
And in 1999 Rafael Palmero won the GG at 1B in the AL. He played 28 games at 1B that season. 128 at DH.
Yes, but the thread was asking about the FB awards specifically. And they are indeed about just fielding; you can see that based on some of the no-hit selections who are included.
The GGs were notorious for focusing on stars, too much inertia (once one became a Gold Glover (TM) it was easier to get more GGs), and generally weak approaches by many voters. You cite well two of the best examples of their poor results!
PCA is a better center fielder, and probably one of the top 3 defensive players in baseball by the eye test. But he had some really goofy boneheaded plays that likely cost him analytically.
Who voted on this,Hollywood ? Betts may be 3rd at best maybe 4th. Masyn Winn and/or Bobby Witt much better fielders than Betts at short. Probably the kid in Atlanta too. Come on this is a joke!
So proud of Bailey as Player of the Year and best for Catching position, also!!! 🏆 ⚾️
Stupid picks base on nothing
If you say so, lol
I guess they weren’t at the game I was at when Bailey dropped a pop up a few feet from home plate. Maybe they also missed the game where he dropped a perfect throw home to allow the Dodgers to win and end our season. Many many other plays that made me wonder if Bailey was hung over or mentally challenged but I guess he was pretty good at framing pitches and occasionally throwing out runners.
Isn’t it just awful when one of your whipping boys goes well. Creates such an internet dilemna !
Never mind. You can always death ride him again next year.
For starters, Patrick Bailey isn’t as mentally challenged and Farhan-obsessed as you, so there’s that, FF
Yeah, I saw Barry Bonds strike out a couple times in a game, once with men in scoring position, and the Giants ended up losing. So, using your logic, I guess Bonds sucked as a hitter.
Hahaha. Nice analogy.
No PCA?
Puzzled: no one stood out at DH?
And why not a SP and a RP.
Patrick Bailey hits worse than a womans softball player. Unfortunately, Buster Posey loves him.
My gal is a pretty good D One softball hitter. She could straighten out that dent you got in your cranium for you!
Wait, is it a cranium dent that is causing several on here to denatung various guys’ hitting prowess on a comment board for an article about D-🤺 🤺
Debating not denatung or denaturing that auto-correct framed me for.
Not much went right, but Matt Olson having generational defense was fun. I do not care if it’s first base. I need this.
1B is an underrated defensive position. A bad defensive 1B can really hurt his team. The Mets went from the top rated defensive team in 2001 to the worst in 2002. Most of the roster was unchanged except they signed Mo Vaughn to play 1B.
It’s kind of a logarithmic curve. The difference in value between an average defensive 1B and a bad one is substantial, but the difference between an elite one and an average one is minimal.
Not sure if it’s underrated, but it might be under-appreciated. This position is involved with more assists than any other.
I’ll readily accept under-appreciated in lieu of underrated. In fact, I think under-appreciated is superior in expressing my point.
Although I think you mean outs for 1B, not assists, since a grounder to the other IF positions is an assist for the fielder and an out for the guy at 1B. Adames led MLB in assists, and the top 5 were all SSs. And where Realmuto led MLB in put outs, the rest of the top 5 all played 1B.
Right, recording outs. Good point.
Why do they have this and gold gloves? What’s the difference?
Apparently Gold Glove is voted on by MLB managers and coaches, while the fielding bible is voted on by “10-15 sabermetrically inclined experts, including journalists, authors, and analysts, who use a combination of statistical analysis, visual observation, and subjective judgment to select one overall winner for each defensive position across all of Major League Baseball (MLB)”
Journalists? Their vote here is almost as irrelevant as having them vote for the HOF
The Fielding Bible Awards were created and rose to some prominence at a time when the Gold Gloves were still chosen by a very flawed analysis. It was pretty apparent how superior the FB awards were to the GGs, for many years.
Because GGs are often based on the player’s hitting ability, and sometimes their popularity. But almost never on actual fielding ability.
Hitting does have an influence on GG voting, but to say it’s never based on actual fielding is maybe a bit hyperbolic. Clearly fielding is a factor. though I agree, it doesn’t always go the best one.
Seeing as Rengifo got a GG nomination this past year, and his hitting was terrible, it goes to show that it does, in fact, take into consideration fielding. Apparently he had the third best defensive scores at 2nd base in the AL for 2025.
Rafaela ended the season as a 2B and Betts was 9th in FRV and OAA. Only two I have an issue with.
Holy misinformation Batman!
Rafaela played the 6th-most innings at CF in all of baseball (so no issue with volume there), and was the best fielder there by metrics consensus and plenty of eye test approval. So he should get robbed of being acknowledged as the best fielder at his position this year because he helped his team out by spotting them 165 solid-fielding innings at 2B?
By the way, the LAST game he played at 2B this year, including playoffs, was September 2nd. “Ended the season as a 2B”, cool straight-up lie there buddy.
He finished the season at 2B.
In his 129 starts Rafaela had 350 less innings played than the top 2 and 200 less than #4 and 5.
Being a total douchebag just gets you ignored and muted.
Then how do you handle mirrors?
For the complainers (and those who are just interested), here’s an opportunity to read the reasoning behind these choices, and who voted.
sportsinfosolutions.com/2025/10/23/the-2025-fieldi…
Matt Olson is a great baseball player and even better human. He does a lot for charity.
Clement is great and all but not giving the utility award to Mauricio Dubon is insane.
Clement is better based on virtually every defensive metric though? Seems perfectly sane to me.
Looking at different metrics apparently cause Savant has Dubon ahead of Clement by a lot.
Mookie Betts over Nick Adams?
I thought this was a fielding award?
Since there’s no Nick Adams, I assume you mean Nick Allen.
Defensive Runs Saved:
Betts: 17 (1st)
Allen: 12 (3rd)
So yeah, it’s a fielding award.
Baseball Savant has Nick Allen at 17 OAA
Baseball Savant has Mookie Betts at 6 OAA
Baseball reference has Nick Allen at 12 DRS and per 1200 innings 14
Baseball reference has Betts at 17 DRS and per 1200 innings 16
Betts had approximately 230 more innings than Allen at the position.
You don’t have to point out the problems with defensive metrics to me.
I didn’t reply to you, irrespective if it showed in your notifications, as that is the way this site works.
If I had have replied to you, I would have used, @ BS LA.
Just to point out that out didn’t @ anybody. But for sure the threading on this comment system bites.
Pete Crow Armstrong shouLd have won for CF. And I don’t know why Betts won at short. Love him and its quite impressive moving there from right field. But the best in both leaguea? I can think of several who were better – Swanson & Witt for starters.
Rafaela was flawless in the field this year, though I haven’t seen a lot of PCA.
Both Winns were better picks than Betts.
Both Witt and Winn were better picks.
Funny they gave the Cubs as the best defensive team in baseball. Apparently they didn’t watch Dansby kick the ball around the infield in the division series. Hoerner straight up let a ball between his legs and PCA badly misplayed a ball in game 5.
Mookie Betts…it just lost any credibility.
I believe for all these awards voting was completed before the playoffs began and all awards are reg season only
Fielding Bible’s website still shows 2024 with these same results.
Genuine question: were the Cubs a better defensive team than the Brewers this year? I only consumed Brewers media and they spent the whole season talking about how excellent our team was defensively. I guess I didn’t appreciate how good they were defensively?
Good question. Not a Brewers fan, but I also heard many times about how good they were defensively. I’m guessing they were maybe a close second?
@Brewers!
By Total DRS, based on Fielding Bible’s data, the Rangers were #1 and then Cubs were #2. Cubs won it because they were the only team to have a positive Runs Saved total from eight of the nine defensive positions (all but right field).
Brewcrew were 11th by DRS (31) and had negative runs saved from SS, LF, CF and catcher. The Yankees were tied with the Red Sox with 30 DRS, so if everyone was complaining about the Yankees being terrible at defense then I guess the BrewCrew were not really that great?
Thanks for the info. I wonder how they graded with the other defensive metrics
Hoerner over Turang? And Mookie Betts over…most shortstops? Zero credibility
@GenoSeligPrieb
Makes sense.
Betts tied Taylor Walls for the lead in Defensive Runs Saved by a shortstop in 2025 with 17. Betts had played only 81 MLB games at shortstop prior to 2025 but handled the position very well. He turned 12 more plays than expected on balls hit to his right, best of any shortstop. He had the most Good Fielding Plays / Defensive Misplays & Error Runs Saved with 2.
Turang only played 3 games at SS And was terrible, with a -1 DRS. Hoerner had a DRS of 0 and only played 8 games at SS. Wouldn’t make sense to give the award to those players at SS.
There is a player at SS with the St Louis Cardinals that led the galaxy in fielding percentage.
Get used to seeing Ceddanne Rafaella here.