I know this was mentioned briefly in James’s Snake Bytes, but I figure it deserves a piece of its own. The nominees for this year’s Gold Gloves were announced this morning, and there are four D-backs among the finalists for the National League. Each team’s manager and up to six coaches on his staff vote from a pool of qualified players in their League and cannot vote for players from their own team. Those votes represent 75% of the final, with a sabermetric component, the SABR Defensive Index, comprising the remaining 25 percent of the total.
Catcher: Gabriel Moreno
Also nominated: Freddy Fermin, San Diego Padres and Luis Torrens, New York Mets. The guy who probably should feel hard done by here, is the Marlins’ Joe Mack, who on Fangraphs’ table, led the league in Def, was the best pitch framer, and was third in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS). With him out of the picture, it’s pretty close between the three candidates. Torrens is top in Def, but Moreno has the edge in DRS. He also played 200+ more innings at the position than the two other nominees. On the other hand, might be best for the team if Gabby were not to win, because it would only jack up the price of any contract extension.
Shortstop: Geraldo Perdomo
Also nominated: Masyn Winn, St. Louis Cardinals and Dansby Swanson, Chicago Cubs. Again, did Miami somehow irritate the voting committee? Because the Marlins’ Otto Lopez has as good a case as, say, Swanson, matching him in DRS and slightly better in Def. Winn is probably the man to beat here, leading just about across the board in the metrics. He also has the advantage of being the incumbent, after winning the Gold Glove in 2025, and I’d be quite surprised if Perdomo were to prevail, although he did play more innings at short than anyone in the NL this season. Still, a nice honor for a season generally regarded as underwhelming, after his monstrous 2025.
A quick note on the absence of Nolan Arenado among the 3B candidates. While his fielding percentage of .975 was top four, the more advanced numbers were less impressed. He was only sixth by Def, and DRS actually had him in negative territory, at -4. Mind you, Max Muncy was nominated, despite being distinctly “Meh” as well.
Right field: Corbin Carroll
Also nominated: Carson Benge, New York Mets and Seiya Suzuki, Chicago Cubs. It’s definitely gratifying to see how far Carroll’s defense has come. He was a nominee last year, and even that was impressive, considering his arm strength in particular received mediocre grades as a prospect and in his early major-league days. That may still be an issue – his rARM is -3 – Carroll has worked around it very well. While this is likely Suzuki’s award to lose, Carroll did lead the league at the position in Outs Above Average, and was a strong second to Suzuki in DRS (14-12). Def disagrees, however, rating Carroll below average at -0.7, good enough only for sixth place.
Utility: Ildemaro Vargas
Also nominated: Mauricio Dubón, Atlanta Braves and Jared Triolo, Pittsburgh Pirates. This is a relatively new award, having only been added in 2022, and is not one which is voted on by managers and coaches. Instead, utilizing the SABR formula and additional defensive statistics, Rawlings will select one utility winner from each League. So it’s really hard to say how this one will go. Triolo was the 2024 winner here, and Dubón won it in the AL last year, as a member of the Astros. I’ve a feeling it’ll probably be one of them. But if you’d told me at the beginning of the year that Vargas would be a Gold Glove finalist, after winning NL Player of the Month in April… Yeah. #YouCantPredictBaseball
The winners will be unveiled during a one-hour, special-edition Baseball Tonight broadcast on ESPN Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. Arizona time.