Since becoming the Giants’ president of baseball operations, Buster Posey has constantly stressed his desire to build a fundamentally sound team — a team that plays “strong defense.” Zack Minasian, the team’s new general manager, sang a similar tune during his introductory press conference.
As Posey and Minasian begin building next year’s team, they won’t have to look far for two of baseball’s best defenders.
Third baseman Matt Chapman and catcher Patrick Bailey were both named Gold Glove Award winners on Sunday, the first time the Giants have had multiple recipients in a single season since Posey, second baseman Joe Panik and shortstop Brandon Crawford all captured the hardware in 2016. They are the first Giants to receive the award since Crawford in 2021.
Mike Yastrzemski was a finalist for the Gold Glove in right field, but the award went to the Brewers’ Sal Frelick.
For Chapman, who signed a six-year, $151 million extension with San Francisco in September, this marks the fifth Gold Glove of his career, three of which he won with the A’s. The 31-year-old’s defensive résumé also features two Platinum Glove Awards, three Fielding Bible Awards and 109 defensive runs saved, the most by any position player since he made his debut.
For Bailey, arguably the best defensive catcher in baseball, this is the first time in his young career that he has won the gold. The 25-year-old becomes the fourth catcher in Giants history to win the award, joining Posey (2015), Mike Matheney (2004) and Kirt Manwaring (1993).
Given the publicly available defensive metrics, Chapman and Bailey were both the strongest candidates to win at their respective positions.
Chapman led all third basemen in defensive runs saved (17) and was tied with the Brewers’ Joey Ortiz for the most outs above average (11). Bailey, a finalist last year, caught 19 runners attempting to steal second base (most in the NL) in 64 attempts.
He led all defenders in fielding run value (22), as well as all catchers in defensive runs saved (20) and catcher framing runs (16). His pop time of 1.85 seconds was tied with the Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto and the White Sox’s Korey Lee for the best in baseball, and he finished second in caught stealing above average (nine).
While the Giants boast two of baseball’s best fielders, their defense, as a whole, stands to improve.
Last year, San Francisco’s outfielders combined for -16 defensive runs saved (27th) and -19 outs above average (29th). Those numbers stand to improve when Jung Hoo Lee, limited to 37 games due to a season-ending left shoulder injury in May, returns to patrol center field.
Along with the outfield, Giants shortstops collectively finished with -11 defensive runs saved and -3 outs above average, but they could quickly improve that unit if they manage to sign Willy Adames or Ha-Seong Kim in free agency.
