Five Blue Jays Named Finalists for Gold Glove Awards

[Leo Morgenstern]

Rawlings revealed the finalists for the 2025 Gold Glove Awards this morning, naming three defenders at each position in each league. Five Toronto Blue Jays players were announced as finalists in five different categories. Yet, somehow, someway, the Jays have a total of six finalists, tied with the Chicago Cubs for the most of any team. Let me explain.

Alejandro Kirk is a finalist at catcher, and Andrés Giménez is a finalist at second base. Simple enough. But then things get more complicated. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ty France are both finalists at first base. Meanwhile, Ernie Clement is a finalist as a third baseman and as a utility player.

The Blue Jays are the only team with two finalists at one position and the only team to have a player who is a finalist at multiple positions.

To make things even more confusing, Giménez shouldn't even be eligible, according to the criteria laid out on the Rawlings website. He didn't play enough innings before the cutoff date. Does this mean he is, in fact, eligible after all? Maybe. But this wouldn't be the first time a player was named a finalist for an award he couldn't win. For example, Bryce Harper was named a Silver Slugger finalist in 2022, despite not having played the minimum number of games to qualify.

So, the Blue Jays have two finalists at first base, a possibly ineligible finalist at second base, and a finalist at third base who is also their finalist for the utility Gold Glove. What is this, an Abbott and Costello routine?

Featured image courtesy of Mark Smith, Imagn Images.

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[Brownie19]

I think Kirk and Ernie have great chances of taking home a GG.  Gimenez probably does too, but the time he missed due to injury may hurt his chances.

[Laika]

Vlad has a good chance as well. Jays could get 3 GG

[Jonn]

Ernie winning both third base and utility would be pretty sick.

[mphenhef]

Anyone know if it is possible for Ernie to win both?  Unfortunately, this could be a sign that he wins neither as his votes could be split between the two.

[thatoneguy]

Kirk absolutely deserves a GG.

[mphenhef]

13 hours ago, mphenhef said:

Anyone know if it is possible for Ernie to win both?  Unfortunately, this could be a sign that he wins neither as his votes could be split between the two.

I looked into it.  It is possible as the utility gold glove is not based on voting and is awarded based on a SABR formula.

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, mphenhef said:

I looked into it.  It is possible as the utility gold glove is not based on voting and is awarded based on a SABR formula.

Well that's pretty cool.  I assume he'd be the first player ever to win 2 GG in a single season.  Put Ern in the history books - guys like him who show incredible resilience deserve it.

[mphenhef]

27 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Well that's pretty cool.  I assume he'd be the first player ever to win 2 GG in a single season.  Put Ern in the history books - guys like him who show incredible resilience deserve it.

If he won, he would be the first to do so at 2 positions in one season.  3 other players have won at different positions in different years (Erstad, Polanco and LeMahieu ).  I think Ernie will be in tough against Garcia in the 3B battle but it would be super cool to see him win both!

[Laika]

C - by FRV (Statcast)
Kirk +22
Dingler +12
Narvaez +12

1B 
France +10 OAA +9 DRS
Santana +8 OAA +12 DRS
Vlad -2 OAA but +8 DRS
1B defense is weird, I would not be surprised to see Vlad get this because of star/name value also volume played and offense which is sometimes a tiebreaker lol

2B
Gimenez +10 OAA +9 DRS
Semien +7 OAA +5 DRS
Rengifo +4 OAA +5 DRS
Gimenez should win but does the lost playing time hurt him?

3B
Garcia +19 OAA and +13 DRS in 1144 innings
Clement +6 OAA +11 DRS in just 603 innings
Ramirez +6 OAA
Maikel Garcia should win in a landslide but if Ernie had been a full time 3B the numbers may be close

Util
Ernie +13 OAA +21 DRS
Schneeman +7 OAA +DRS
Dubon +19 OAA +14 DRS 
Dubon only had 398 PA, Schneeman 422. Ernie with 588 captures the spirit of "Utility Player" more since the other two are close to bench status. 

[Orgfiller]

Would be a travesty for Kirk and Ernie to miss out. Gimenez's lost time to injury will hurt him I feel, hopefully not of course.

[mphenhef]

20 hours ago, Orgfiller said:

Would be a travesty for Kirk and Ernie to miss out. Gimenez's lost time to injury will hurt him I feel, hopefully not of course.

Honestly, I'm pretty sure the options were so underwhelming at 2B compared to Gimenez that they made an exception to the rules and made him eligible (technically he was under the innings played limits at the deadline).  He's the one winner I would be most confident about.