All AL East Gold Glove Finalists
Photo by Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports
The finalists for the 2023 Rawlings Gold Glove award were announced on Wednesday afternoon. For the AL East division 12 players are among the finalists with the Toronto Blue Jays leading the division with 5 finalists. Below is all the American League finalists followed by all the AL East.
The Baltimore Orioles have three finalists with Ryan Mountcastle for First Base, Austin Hays for Left Field and Adley Rutschman for Catcher. All three are in the run for their first ever Gold Glove.
The Tampa Bay Rays have one finalist in Taylor Walls, who is a finalist for the Utility Player Gold Glove. If he won, it would be his first Gold Glove.
The Toronto Blue Jays’ finalists are Matt Chapman for Third Base, Daulton Varsho for Left Field, Kevin Kiermaier for Center Field, Alejandro Kirk for Catcher and José Berríos for Pitcher. Chapman is a three-time Gold Glove winner as well as a two-time Platinum Glove winner, Kiermaier also shares the three time Gold Glove honors. This year is Kirk’s first time as a finalist, but last year he won last year’s Silver Slugger. Berríos was a finalist for the Gold Glove last year but Shane Bieber won.
The New York Yankees have two finalists with Anthony Rizzo for First Base and Anthony Volpe for Shortstop. Rizzo is a four-time Gold Glove winner and was a finalist for it last year as well. Volpe in his first season in the big leagues gets his first try at a Gold Glove.
Finally, the Boston Red Sox have one finalist with Alex Verdugo for Right Field. This would be Verdugo’s first Gold Glove.
There are multiple qualifications players need to be eligible for the Gold Glove Award. For pitchers, they must have pitched in at least 138 innings by that team’s 138th game. Catchers must have caught a minimum of 69 games by the team’s 138th game. Infielders and outfielders need at least a total of 698 innings before the team’s 138th game. The voting process is set as every manager and six other coaches cast their votes. They cannot vote for players on their own team and they must specify the position with the player name. As well as the votes, the SABR Defensive Index is also counted for the players. This year’s Gold Glove winners will be announced on ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” on November 5th at 7:30 PM ET.
