Rays infielder Taylor Walls has been named one of three American League finalists for a Rawlings Gold Glove Award at shortstop, joining Texas’ Corey Seager and Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr.
Despite appearing in only 101 games, Walls’ 18 defensive runs saved were third most among major league infielders behind Toronto’s Ernie Clement (22) and Cincinnati’s Ke’Bryan Hayes (19), tied for sixth most among all fielders and were more than 14 of the 30 major league teams had all season. He recorded 17 defensive runs saved at shortstop, tying Los Angeles-NL’s Mookie Betts for the most in the majors despite appearing in 54 fewer games.
Walls committed only five errors in 364 total chances, good for a .986 fielding percentage, third best in franchise history by a shortstop (min. 500.0 innings) behind Adeiny Hechavarría (.990) in 2018 and Yunel Escobar (.989) in 2013. He made only one error over his first 67 games and two in his first 83 games.
This marks Walls’ second time being named a Gold Glove finalist after he earned the nod as a utility player in 2023. Since he broke into the majors in 2021, his 52 defensive runs saved as a shortstop are the most in baseball, outpacing Los Angeles-NL’s Miguel Rojas (40), Chicago-NL’s Dansby Swanson (40) and Houston’s Jeremy Peña (32). He has accomplished this despite ranking 31st in innings played at the position in that timeframe.
Walls is attempting to become the first Rays middle infielder to win a Gold Glove. The club’s previous winners at other positions include center fielder Kevin Kiermaier (2019, 2015-16), third baseman Evan Longoria (2017, 2009-10), right-handed pitcher Jeremy Hellickson (2012), left fielder Carl Crawford (2010) and first baseman Carlos Peña (2008).
Rawlings Gold Glove Awards have been awarded to the best individual fielding performances at each position in both the American and National Leagues since 1957. Winners are determined through a combination of voting by league managers and coaches and sabermetric statistics. They will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 8:30 p.m. E.T. during ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight.”
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