The Gold Glove is baseball's highest honor for defense. The Texas Rangers could be well represented when the awards are announced next month.
The finalists at each position in the American and National Leagues were announced on Wednesday and four Texas players were among them. Jacob deGrom is a finalist at pitcher, Wyatt Langford in left field, Evan Carter in center field in Ezequiel Duran as the utility player.
So which of these players has the best chance to land a Gold Glove? We dove into their numbers - and the competition - to find out.
deGrom did not commit an error in 18 total chances on the mound, finishing with a 1.000 fielding percentage for the seventh consecutive season. His last charged error was in 2019 when he was with the New York Mets. Per Fangraphs he also accrued two defensive runs saved.
deGrom has never won a Gold Glove.
The other finalists are Cleveland's Tanner Bibee and Jose Soriano, who played for the Los Angeles Angels and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Looking at DRS, Soriano is a plus-3 and Bibee was a plus-5. Soriano had no errors while Bibee was charged with three.
Chances:Good, but not great. This isn't a career award, but time is running out for deGrom to win one and he has solid numbers, especially given he has no errors. If voters are going to focus solely on analytics, then Soriano probably wins based on his DRS and having no errors.
Langford started 100 games , with 87 of those in left field, and only committed one error in 242 chances. He finished with five outfield assists and a .996 fielding percentage. Fangraphs has him with nine defensive runs saved, which is third best among AL left fielders, and his five outs above average, a Statcast number, was tied for fourth. Langford has never won the award and was a finalist last year.
The other finalists are the New York Yankees' Cody Bellinger and Tampa Bay's Chandler Simpson.
Bellinger finished the season with 20 DRS and a fielding percentage of .989 with eight outfield assists and three errors. Simpson had 8 DRS, a fielding percentage of .991 and five outfield assists.
Chances:Low. The fielding percentages are relatively equal. But Bellinger's DRS and outfield assists are going to win him the award.
Carter played in 140 games (112 starts), all in center field, which was tied for second-most of any AL player. He was charged with two errors and had a .994 fielding percentage, tied for fewest among AL center fielder. Statcast had him with 11 outs above average and Fangraphs had him with six defensive runs saved. He is a finalist for the first time.
The other finalists are Cleveland's Steve Kwan and Boston's Ceddanne Rafaela.
Kwan has won the award four times. He had 17 defensive runs save and was charged with only three errors as he had 11 outfield assists. Rafaela had 21 DRS, two errors and eight outfield assists.
Chances:Low. Carter had a breakthrough season defensively. But Kwan and Rafaela are the position's gold standard in the AL. The numbers make that clear.
Duran is the only player in the Majors that started at all seven non-pitcher/catcher positions in 2026. Per Fangraphs he had a positive outs above average at shortstop (11), second base (three) and third base (two). The 11 OAA at shortstop was fourth best in the AL in just 53 games. He was only charged with six errors across the seven positions he played. His overall Fangraphs fielding value was 12.7. This is his first time as a finalist.
The other finalists are Detroit's Zach McKinstry and the Yankees' Jose Caballero. McKinstry played seven different positions but didn't start at all of them. His overall fielding value at Fangraphs was 11.9. He was charged with four errors across the positions he played. His fielding run value was 12, whereas Duran's was 13.
Caballero played six positions and was charged with 12 errors. His overall Fangraphs fielding value was -0.8 while his Statcast fielding run value was zero.
Chances:High. Duran has the best chance of the four Rangers. Caballero shouldn't be a finalist if this award is about defense. Duran had a slightly better year than McKinstry. It should be close.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/rangers/onsi as Assessing Gold Glove Winning Chances of Four Rangers Finalists .
