Which Blue Jays are most likely to win Gold Glove awards as MLB announces finalists

The Toronto Blue Jays have been one of the best defensive teams in MLB over the last few seasons and that was no different in 2025. The Blue Jays' defensive runs saved (DRS) ranked fourth in MLB this year at 51 DRS and they had the top defensive fWAR in the league at 38.6.

Now that the regular season has come to a close and the metrics have been tallied up, five individual Blue Jays have been named as finalists for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award at their respective positions. Those players are catcher Alejandro Kirk, first basemen Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ty France, second baseman Andrés Giménez, and Ernie Clement is a finalist at both third base and as a utility player.

Which Blue Jays are most likely to win Gold Glove awards as MLB announces finalists

Maybe the most surprising piece of news out of all of this is that none of the Blue Jays outfielders were named as finalists, considering the outfield as a whole finished third in the league with 27 DRS. Nathan Lukes and Daulton Varsho were in the top 15 among all outfielders in defensive runs saved, while Myles Straw finished third overall with 18 DRS - however none of them played in the top ten in innings with Lukes topping the three of them with 909.1.

Meantime, for the guys who did qualify, there's no denying they had solid seasons with the glove, but are any of them likely to win? The award comes down largely to the SABR Defensive Index™ (SDI) rankings, and the latest rankings are only updated through August of 2025. Using those metrics and a combination of FanGraphs ratings, we can make some educated guesses on which Blue Jays could win awards.

Kirk has an excellent opportunity to bring home some hardware. He's yet to win a Gold Glove award in his six year career, even though he's been talked about as being one of the best behind the dish in MLB.

In 2025 he led all catchers in the American League (via FanGraphs) with a Fielding Run Value of 22, with his framing coming in at a value of 16 and his blocking value at five. He had the highest defensive fWAR at 25.6 and was leading all AL catchers with an 8.9 SDI which should make him one of the stronger Gold Glove award candidates.

It's interesting that Giménez was named as a finalist as he played in just 719.2 innings at second base - but that ranked him seventh overall in the American League at that position and his .994 fielding percentage ranks third. He also finished second in the league with 9 defensive runs saved, and an 8.3 defensive fWAR which ranks first.

However, Giménez had not qualified for the top SDI in August and it will be interesting to see if the final two months of the regular season significantly boosted that ranking for the Blue Jays' second baseman.

Clement, like Kirk, is another strong candidate to walk away with something, although he split his time at third, second and saw a few innings at shortstop - which should give him a very good chance to win the utility player award. He had the top DRS among all AL second basemen with 10, and a 4.5 defensive fWAR at that position.

At third base his 11 DRS ranks second and his 5.5 defensive fWAR ranks fourth. But all told, his +23 DRS topped the league among all fielders and that has to be worth something to the voters. He was also sitting in second with 4.9 SDI in August. Clement has only been a full-time player the last two seasons after coming over to Toronto in 2023 and has not had the chance to ever be in a position to be a league award finalist, until now.

Last, but not least both of the Blue Jays first basemen have qualified for the Gold Glove award. Fance had a 4.1 SDI in August - but after being traded to Toronto at the deadline he played in appeared in just 23 games at first base the rest of the season.

Still, his 9 DRS ranks second in the AL and his -0.1 defensive fWAR was also second in the league. France has never been widely regarded as a great fielder, but he turned his game around this season and the one-time All-Star has at least some validity to his claim to being a contender for the Gold Glove award.

Meantime, his teammate, Guerrero Jr. was actually behind France and league leader Carlos Santana in the SDI department in August, with Vladdy sitting at 2.5. Vladdy was right behind France in DRS with 8 but his defensive fWAR sat at -9.9 and he had a -1 fielding run value.

For comparisons sake though, when Guerrero Jr. won the Gold Glove award in 2022 he topped the DRS first baseman leader board with a DRS of 3, and his FRS was -3 and defensive fWAR was -11.9

While being nominated is certainly an honour, it feels like Kirk and Clement have an inside track on their positions, while Giménez already having won three previous awards may be looked upon favourably again. As for the two first basemen, that category really does feel like a toss up. The winners will be announced on Sunday, November 2.