A big honor for Big Dumper
The Rawlings Gold Glove award dinner was last night, honoring the players who won Gold Gloves and awarding the Platinum Glove, recognizing the best defensive player at any position in each league. To our delight if not our surprise, Cal Raleigh won the Platinum Glove for the AL, following up his first-ever Gold Glove win with the first-ever Platinum Glove won by a member of the Mariners organization since the award’s inception in 2011. Platinum Glove award winners are determined from a combination of SABR’s Defensive Index metric from the year’s Gold Glove winners, as well as a fan vote, so if you voted for Big Dumper on the Rawlings site, give yourself a little pat on the back.
In winning the Platinum Glove, Raleigh edged out several other defensive standouts: two three-consecutive Gold Glove winners from the Guardians in second baseman Andrés Giménez and Steven Kwan, as well as Royals wunderkind Bobby Witt Jr., who won his first Gold Glove award this year. Gímenez, the winner of the Platinum Glove last year, racked up an incredible 21 Outs Above Average, but Raleigh posted equally gaudy numbers with his pitch framing playing the hardest defensive position on the diamond. A catcher also won the award in 2022, when Jose Trevino took home the award for the Yankees; the only other catcher to win a Platinum Glove is St. Louis’s Yadier Molina, who won the award four times. Third basemen have won the most Gold Gloves for the AL, nabbing the honor five times in the past 13 years, with Adrián Beltre and Matt Chapman as repeat winners.
Brice Turang, the Brewers’ shortstop, won the Platinum Glove for the National League. The Brewers and the Blue Jays won the team awards for overall defense; each team is a repeat winner for their league.
Mariners fans have long known how special Cal Raleigh is as a player and as a person, and this latest accolade is just another reminder of the quality of player the Mariners have in their backstop. In just a few short years Cal has cemented himself as a franchise player, and deserves to be paid as one. Still, it’s very satisfying to see Raleigh finally be recognized nationally for his superior defense. He also has a chance to earn some national offensive recognition, as well. Earlier this week, Cal was named an AL Silver Slugger Award finalist, with the winner set to be announced on Tuesday, November 12; you can watch the awards live on MLB Network.