Taylor Walls has finally won a Gold Glove award.
After being nominated for the honor twice before (2023 & 2025), Walls beat out the competition to be named the top defensive shortstop in the American League.
Walls, 30, just completed his sixth season in the big leagues and has been among the top defensive players in all of baseball since making his Major League debut. Despite a career 71 wRC+, Walls has forced his way into the starting lineup thanks to his exceptional defensive abilities.
Back on October
19th, shortly after Walls’ nomination for the award was announced, Ben Whitelaw wrote about Taylor Walls deserved to win the award. He simply dominates other defenders when it comes to Defensive Runs Saved and then he actually breaks Outs Above Average due to his ability to anticipate plays and put himself in the best position to make plays before the ball is even hit.
He simply converts more batted balls into outs at a higher rate than any other shortstop defender. His total OAA isn’t able to account for his anticipatory skills, but we do see it reflected in his success rates
Walls is the first shortstop in franchise history to win a Gold Glove and the first Ray to win a Gold Glove since Kevin Kiermaier took home his third career Gold Glove in 2019.
