On Wednesday afternoon, Derek Curiel was named as one of the nine Rawlings Gold Glove winners by the ABCA.
The award is a prestigious honor, recognizing him as one of the best three outfield gloves in entire country, which consists of 300+ Division 1 schools. 2026 was Curiel’s first year in centerfield, after spending his freshman season in left field in 2025. He and Chris Stanfield
swapped spots this year, to the surprise of some fans. Stanfield was a fantastic defender as well and had a tremendous year in his first season in purple and gold, but it did not take long for it to become apparent why Jay Johnson trusted his second-year player to take over.
Through two seasons in Baton Rouge, Curiel committed just 2 errors. Both came this year, coincidentally, but were likely each bad throws that allowed a runner to move up an extra base. He fielded .991 in his college career. Typically recognized for his bat, the sophomore proved time and time again that he was an elite defender by chasing balls down in the right and left-center gaps and laying out to make multiple full extension catches.
Ranked at #12 and #17 in MLB.com and ESPN’s draft rankings, respectively, Curiel is expected to be a high 1st round pick in July’s draft. It’s no surprise that he performed as well as he did as a Tiger, coming out of Orange Lutheran as the #10 ranked high school player in the 2024 draft class. He was the #2 ranked player from California, a state littered with top baseball prospects.
Curiel is almost certainly expected to be drafted and sign professionally, forgoing his final two years of college eligibility, but this award adds to a long list of accolades that he racked up in two years.
D1 Baseball National Freshman of the Year (2025)
College World Series All-Tournament Team (2025)
ABCA Second-Team All-American (2025)
First-Team Freshman All-American (D1, Baseball America, NCBWA, Perfect Game) (2025)
Second-Team All-SEC (2025)
Freshman All-SEC (2025)
First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll (2025)
Curiel began his career in 2025 by reaching base in his first 43 straight games, more than doubling Dylan Crews’s freshman record for longest streak at 20 games. As the 2026 season comes to it’s conclusion with the CWS Finals now set for this weekend, more awards will be announced throughout this week and he is likely to bring home even more hardware.
It’s hard to fathom a more impactful two years in a program that what Derek Curiel delivered, leaving LSU not only as a highly-decorated individual, but a National Champion.
