Photo: Redleg Nation Staff
The Cincinnati Reds had two players looking to win a Gold Glove for the 2025 season on Sunday night. Spencer Steer and Ke’Bryan Hayes were named as finalists for first and third base several weeks ago. Rawlings and Major League Baseball announced the winners on ESPN Sunday evening and Steer failed to win his first Gold Glove, but Hayes was named the winner at third base for the second time in the last three years.
Before Sunday night, the last time that a Reds player had won a Gold Glove was back in 2020 when Tucker Barnhart picked up his second win as the National League’s top catcher. He won the previous Reds Gold Glove in 2017. Before that you have to go back to when Brandon Phillips won his fourth and final Gold Glove in the 2013 season. Hayes joins Scott Rolen from 2010 as the only Red to win the award at third base since the award was started in 1957.
Ke’Bryan Hayes joined Cincinnati’s infield at the trade deadline in 2025, coming over from the Pittsburgh Pirates in a deal that sent prospect Sammy Stafura and reliever Taylor Rogers the other way. Hayes almost immediately improved the Reds infield defense as he showed off good hands, good range, and an accurate arm. While errors are not a great way to determine a players defensive value, Hayes only made one of them in 38 games with the Reds – posting a .991 fielding percentage after joining the team.
Looking deeper at the more advanced fielding statistics is where Hayes really stood out among his peers. He led third base in fielding run value at +17. Ryan McMahon, who was also a Gold Glove finalist, was next best at the position in the National League at +7. Looking at Outs Above Average, Hayes came in at +21. Once again it was McMahon next on the list at +6. There was little doubt that Hayes stood on top of the defensive mountain and no one else was remotely close in terms of what the various defensive numbers were showing all of us.
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