Major League Baseball’s award season began with the announcement of the 2025 Gold Glove winners on Sunday.
The Los Angeles Dodgers had two finalists in Mookie Betts and Miguel Rojas. However, neither of them ended up taking an award home.
There were nine first-time Gold Glove winners in 2025, five shy of the record for the most since the awards were first implemented in 1957. The record number of first-time winners was initially set in 2022 and occurred again last season.
There had been at least 13 first-time award winners from 2022-2024. Last season was the fifth consecutive year with at least 10 first-time Gold Glove recipients, which was the longest streak in the history of the award.
The award was pretty evenly distributed in the American League, with the Kansas City Royals and Boston Red Sox leading the way at two. The AL Central was well represented, winning five awards in total.
The Chicago Cubs led the National League with three Gold Glove winners, followed by the San Francisco Giants with two.
Gold Glove winners were determined by a combination of voting from MLB managers, coaches, and the SABR Defensive Index. All 30 managers, and up to six coaches from each organization cast a vote from a pool of players in their respective league, excluding players from their own team.
Manager and coaches votes accounted for 75% of the vote, and the SABR Defensive Index rounded out the remaining 25%.
The Dodgers did not have any player take home a Gold Glove Award for the third consecutive season.
St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn beat out Betts, and Javier Sanoja of the Miami Marlins was chosen over Rojas.
After a full offseason and Spring Training to learn the intricacies of his new position, Betts played leagues above how he looked last year. Not only was he making elite-level defensive plays, but he was also consistently making the routine ones and fixed his issue throwing to first base.
Betts was top-5 in MLB with 17 defensive runs saved and his six outs above average (OAA) ranked in the 92nd percentile in 2025.
However, OAA carries more weight among the voters and Winn was second among all shortstops with 21, just behind fellow Gold Glove winner Bobby Witt Jr. who recorded 24 outs above average.
On Baseball Savant’s Fielding Run Value leaderboard, Winn ranked eighth among all players and Betts ranked 78th. Fielding Run Value is a metric for capturing a player’s measurable defensive performance by converting all of Statcast’s individual defensive metrics from different scales onto the same run-based scale.
Rojas spent time at every single infield position for the Dodgers this season, except catcher. He logged three innings at first base, 453.1 innings at second base, 167.2 innings at third base and 117 innings at shortstop.
Rojas played at a high level wherever the Dodgers placed him, with a cumulative OAA in the 91st percentile.
Sanoja winning a Gold Glove over Rojas is slightly perplexing considering the Marlins’ utility-man had an OAA in 57th percentile. Rojas also graded out better with a Fielding Run Value of +5 runs compared to Sanoja’s +2.
Something that could’ve worked in Sanoja’s favor was the 235.1 innings he logged in the outfield in addition to playing the same positions as Rojas.
2025 Gold Glove Award winners
American League
Pitcher: Max Fried, New York Yankees
Catcher: Dillon Dingler, Detroit Tigers
First base: Ty France, Minnesota Twins/Toronto Blue Jays
Second base: Marcus Semien, Texas Rangers
Third base: Maikel Garcia, Kansas City Royals
Shortstop: Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals
Left field: Steven Kwan, Cleveland Guardians
Center field: Ceddanne Rafaela, Boston Red Sox
Right field: Wilyer Abreu, Boston Red Sox
Utility: Mauricio Dubón, Houston Astros
National League
Pitcher: Logan Webb, San Francisco Giants
Catcher: Patrick Bailey, San Francisco Giants
First base: Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves
Second base: Nico Hoerner, Chicago Cubs
Third base: Ke’Bryan Hayes, Pittsburgh Pirates/Cincinnati Reds
Shortstop: Masyn Winn, St. Louis Cardinals
Left field: Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs
Center field: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs
Right field: Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres
Utility: Javier Sanoja, Miami Marlins
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