r/Torontobluejays • u/epic_taco_time Monkeys never cramp • 13h ago
[MLB.com] Golden glove finalists being announced
https://www.mlb.com/news/2026-gold-glove-award-finalistsSo far we have:
P: Soriano
C: Valenzuela
1B: Guerrero Jr
2B: Nobody
3B: Nobody
SS: Gimenez
LF: Nobody
CF: Nobody
RF: Lukes
UTIL: Nobody
Will update as more Jays if any get announced
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u/lightlysaltdJ Valenzuela SZN 13h ago
Yayyy to everyone but especially Vali for being a finalist in his rookie season!!
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u/Holiday-Wheel7078 louis in the 9th 13h ago
great to see vali nominated in his rookie season! we are lucky to have 2 great catchers
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u/bolieve11 Brett "He Gets on Base" Man 13h ago edited 10h ago
happy for soriano, didn’t expect it but that’s on me cause he was great at fielding ever since he came over from la
edit: also lukey getting the nom, so awesome
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u/Marzipan_Dream_7389 13h ago
Vlad’s a shoo-in
Vali should be a contender but his limited playing time post-Kirk’s return may count against him.
Idk about Soriano compared to the other candidates, but fingers crossed!!
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u/hollowbastion36 President of the Ernie Clement fan club 12h ago
Yay all the nominees! Awesome that Valenzuela is nominated in his rookie season. I know he won’t win because of Dingler but still great to be there. And good on Soriano! He’s such a good fielder!
I think Vladdy will win ❤️( congrats to my WBC fave Vinnie Pasquantino for being nommed though) I assume it’s a done deal for Bobby Witt Jr. at SS🥲
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u/mrdannyg21 13h ago
Vladdy should probably win, though I have seen a couple good writers put Walker from Houston over him.
Vali will lose to Dingler, but incredible accomplishment to do that as a rookie and in half a season because the gold glove uses counting stats only. He’d have a real chance if he played a full season.
Gimenez should least get nominated, it’ll be close but they probably give it to Witt.
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u/alxndrblack Louisgang // Respect Nathan Lukes // Threat Bateman // McAdoods 12h ago
Dingler is the fave but Vali put up a crazy amount of counting stats only playing part of the season
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u/Jason_DeHoulo 13h ago edited 12h ago
Valenzuela being up there is kinda wild and definitely not expected (by me at least) - awesome for him
Edit: Lukes for RF surprised me too maybe I didn't watch enough Jays this year lol. Congrats to him as well!
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u/NZafe Get this man some help 13h ago
Valenzuela was fourth (9) in the whole league this season in DRS for Catchers.
Unfortunately, one of the people above him is also in the AL, Dillon Dingler (15).
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u/Accurate-Living-462 11h ago
He also played less than half the games?
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u/ChupaHubbard 7h ago
No he didn't, he played 91 games, Dingler played 145. Vally played a ton while Kirk was injured
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u/BussyPalace 11h ago
Saw multiple games at Rogers Landing this year. Was always impressed with Lukes' throws back into the infield to prevent the hitter/runners from advancing an extra base.
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u/ChupaHubbard 7h ago
He was incredible this season, I thought he'd go under the radar. Like, if you watch other teams play, especially this postseason, you'll see outfield misses that just wouldn't be missed by the Jays in right/centre field. And if you saw a ball that was catchable by Lukes specifically, he was getting it
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u/Scary_System4634 Kaz-adilla 12h ago
That’s so awesome for Valenzuela. And the notation of “2B: nobody” is so funny to me
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u/legless_chair 14-year/$500 million 12h ago
Cool to see Lukey as finalist. Would love for Gimi to grab another but I think Witt Jr is a very strong candidate for best infielder in baseball.
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u/Affectionate-Gap905 Buffalo Blue Jays 13h ago
Vlads runaway favorite first baseman I think
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u/decaf3milk MLB 13h ago
Especially since Ty France is in the NL this year
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u/Affectionate-Gap905 Buffalo Blue Jays 13h ago
Didn’t he have a down year defensively?
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u/GmenJays82713 13h ago
He was easily the best fielding 1B in the AL, if Walker wins there’s seriously no point in having a GG at 1B ever again
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u/Canucksta 12h ago
Vladdy lead AL 1Bs in DRS and should win his 2nd Gold Glove. It doesn't look like any other Blue Jay will win one this year
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u/Positive-Courage-758 11h ago
Crazy that Vladdy could be the first ever blind player to win a gold glove
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u/Chris_TO79 12h ago
Surprised Valenzuela was nominated. Not that he's deserving it's just that he's so new to the big leagues.
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u/Important-Ad1533 8h ago
Tenure has nothing to do with it. Roomie or veteran, selection is based on performance in tue current year.
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u/hollowbastion36 President of the Ernie Clement fan club 12h ago
Nathan Lukes in RF. Don’t know enough to say if he has a shot against the other two nominees!
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u/SufficientlyAveragee 11h ago
Lol I was very confused with the nobodies until I realized this was just listing jays 😅
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u/NedShah 11h ago
Is it not "Gold Glove?"
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u/unfknreal Summer of George = The fall of the Yankees 7h ago
Yes, no idea wtf a "golden glove" is, but in MLB it's a "gold glove" and always has been.
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u/WideMalls 11h ago
So, so happy to see a Lukey nomination. I don’t follow baseball overall as much but do we see him winning against the other finalists?
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u/pilotharrison Torrano Beisbol Birds 🌭 - Mad Max Enthusiast 13h ago
3B: Not Kaz
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u/ChupaHubbard 7h ago
Kaz was pretty good, especially with his level of offense. If you watch other teams, it's fine to pretty good at times
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u/CashOutDev 12h ago
Vladdy has it easily, I'd love to see Valenzuela but it'll be hard to beat Dingler.
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u/JacksonHaddock ritz-carlton chicken tenders 12h ago
It would be funny if they released the names in order of where they finished again.
If so, congrats Vladdy and Andrés!
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u/t333vin 12h ago
Was Soriano’s fielding that impressive? I seemed to recall he had a few misplays here and there during his time here. But he does get a lot more GBs than rest of the league to make plays so that probably compensated
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u/Loud-Picture9110 11h ago
I do recall some semi miraculous plays that Soriano made look routine. He was effectively tied for 3rd place among AL pitchers in DRS so he's a very legitimate candidate.
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u/Vivid_Selection_6548 9h ago
I also think he was a SS at some point and knows how to field grounders, which is why you see him dealing with a lot of them.
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u/Cassopeia88 I wouldn’t want any other 42 year old psychopath on my team 8h ago
Vlad definitely deserves it, Vali won’t win but very encouraging that he got a nomination.
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u/ChupaHubbard 7h ago
Oh my God I'm so happy! I thought Lukes would get ignored in right field! And honestly I thought Vali would be ignored because of Kirk. I also was worried Vlad would get ignored because of his bad bat this season, glad he's in the running. I didn't think Gimenez would be ignored, but he unfortunately has to battle with Bobby Witt Jr, who actually fucked up a few plays this season, which gave me hope for Gimenez, but that's a tough hill to climb
When you look at who they're against in the AL, Vlad 100% deserves the gold glove this year. Lukes has been INCREDIBLE but I think competition is steep in right field. It's not like I've watched enough pitchers to know how he stacks up, but Soriano does look great in the field. I also think Tyler Rogers deserves some consideration, but relievers I don't think pitch enough innings to be considered. He is always solid though, and had at least one incredible play (where he like spun on the ground kind of and then flipped it from his glove to Vladdy at 1st),and he might have had another. Spencer Miles I think has been great at fielding too but I don't remember his whole season so I might forget something he did.
Gimenez it's possible deserves it based on some mistakes that Bobby Witt has made, but Bobby Witt has the name value, and is ahead in stats that I've seen. That one might be close and I couldn't really be made if Bobby Witt won, just sad that Gimenez had to compete with him lol. Valenzuela might actually deserve it, I'd have to think about it though, I haven't really thought much about AL catchers besides the fact that Vally and Kirk AND Heineman all show up in like top 10 or 20 for various league wide stats (not just catchers). And also Langeliers has been injured most of the season, and Patrick Bailey wasn't in the AL all season, but he did get traded kind of early. I don't really know if either of them would contend for gold glove, that's just what popped into my head. Also Valenzuela had two bad errors that I can remember this season. One more recently, one was really early in the season a few games after Heineman made that bad error. Some people might blend the Heineman and Vally one together, but they both had a bad one around the same time
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u/Individual-Shine-340 9h ago
The team with the 5th-most errors in baseball, a league-average defensive efficiency and 5th-worst fielding percentage has 5 Gold Glove nominees - tied with the Cubs for the most. These voters love the Jays every year.
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u/MsSkazzi El Cero es mi héroe. ¡Vamos, Gimé! ⚾💙 12h ago edited 8h ago
Assuming it'll be Witt Jr but bonus votes for Giménez moving positions and being nominated in his first ( full) year playing SS? He's so well respected round the league; it'll be close!!
Vladdy should be a lock!
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u/lightlysaltdJ Valenzuela SZN 12h ago
Not his first year playing SS, it used to be his primary position his first 2 years in the bigs until the Guardians moved him to 2B. The Jays just moved him back
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u/MsSkazzi El Cero es mi héroe. ¡Vamos, Gimé! ⚾💙 12h ago
My apologies. I should have specified first full year. I'm well aware that he's played SS in the past. 👍
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u/Blacktoenails81 12h ago
I think Witt has it locked up but Gimenez and Witt were quite close by some metrics.
OAA: Witt had 24 outs above average and Gimenez had 19. And Fangraphs defensive runs above average valued Witt at 22.8 vs Gimenez at 20.1.
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u/Blacktoenails81 12h ago
We don’t talk about Moreno.
sobs quietly
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u/kneevase 12h ago
You want Kirk, Valenzuela AND Moreno on the roster?
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u/Blacktoenails81 12h ago
I haven’t looked at Moreno’s stats for a while and decided to Google him after seeing the Gold Glove list… I didn’t realize that he was almost a 7 WAR player this season.
Hindsight is always 20/20 but it does sting a little to see how well Moreno is doing. I believe he was the #1 prospect in baseball at the time he was traded so it shouldn’t be a complete shock but still.
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u/Loud-Picture9110 12h ago
I don't think anyone should be particularly upset that the club chose to keep Kirk instead of Moreno.
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u/ApprehensiveTune3655 Just a hit please. 13h ago
Vladdy's offense was certainly a talking point but his defense I felt looked good for the most part this year. Some really nice plays but was fairly sound positionally on the average day.