Bobby Witt Jr., Chris Sale, Steven Kwan among MLB’s Gold Glove winners

MLB announced the Gold Glove Award winners for both the American League and National League on Sunday, honoring the best defensive players at each position as well as one utility player from each league.

The Kansas City Royals, Cleveland Guardians, Seattle Mariners, Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers and San Francisco Giants landed two Gold Glove winners each among the 20 total players selected to receive the honor.

Winners at the nine positions were determined via a vote of managers and coaches (75%) combined with the SABR Defensive Index, a metric that was weighted with 25% of the vote. Managers and coaches could not vote for players on their own teams. Per MLB, the utility players were selected via a specialized SABR formula.

Gold Gloves have been awarded since 1957. The initial group of nine winners was selected from all of MLB in 1957 before baseball expanded the awards to honor players from each league in 1958. Baseball created a utility Gold Glove for the 2022 season.

Of the 20 winners announced Sunday, 14 won a Gold Glove for the first time. That’s tied with 2022 for the most first-time winners since the first year of the award.

American League Gold Glove winners:

Catcher: Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners
First base: Carlos Santana, Minnesota Twins
Second base: Andrés Giménez, Cleveland Guardians
Shortstop: Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals
Third base: Alex Bregman, Houston Astros
Pitcher: Seth Lugo, Kansas City Royals
Left field: Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians
Center field: Daulton Varsho, Toronto Blue Jays
Right field: Wilyer Abreu, Boston Red Sox
Utility: Dylan Moore, Seattle Mariners

National League Gold Glove winners:

Catcher: Patrick Bailey, San Francisco Giants
First base: Christian Walker, Arizona Diamondbacks
Second base: Brice Turang, Milwaukee Brewers
Shortstop: Ezequiel Tovar, Colorado Rockies
Third base: Matt Chapman, San Francisco Giants
Pitcher: Chris Sale, Atlanta Braves
Left field: Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs
Center field: Brenton Doyle, Colorado Rockies
Right field: Sal Frelick, Milwaukee Brewers
Utility: Jared Triolo, Pittsburgh Pirates