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The Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. is among 14 first-time Gold Glove winners
Washington

The Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. is among 14 first-time Gold Glove winners

ST. LOUIS – San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman won his fifth Gold Glove and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was among 14 first-time winners of baseball’s most famous fielding award.

Cleveland second baseman Andrés Giménez and left fielder Steven Kwan won for the third straight time, along with Arizona first baseman Christian Walker and Chicago Cubs left fielder Ian Happ, Rawlings announced Sunday.

It was the third consecutive year that Giménez and Kwan each won a Gold Glove. In doing so, they became the first teammates to win three consecutive awards since Adam Jones and JJ Hardy did so for the Orioles from 2012 to 2014.

Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle won for the second straight year.

It was Chapman’s first Gold Glove in the Netherlands. He won three with Oakland and one with Toronto.

St. Louis slugger Nolan Arenado, a 10-time Gold Glove winner, and Colorado’s Ryan McMahon were also third-place finalists.

“There are a lot of really good defensive third basemen in the National League,” Chapman said in a video call. “I was able to come here and win it, so I thought that was pretty cool and it means a lot now to get one in the American League and the National League.”

Six teams each had two Gold Gloves winners, with the Guardians joined by Colorado, Kansas City, Milwaukee, San Francisco and Seattle.

In addition to Witt, the first-time AL winners include Royals pitcher Seth Lugo, Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh, Minnesota first baseman Carlos Santana, Houston third baseman Alex Bregman, Toronto center fielder Daulton Varsho, Boston right fielder Wilyer Abreu and Mariners utilityman Dylan Moore.

The NL first-rounders included Atlanta pitcher Chris Sale, Giants catcher Patrick Bailey, Milwaukee second baseman Brice Turang and right fielder Sal Frelick, Colorado shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and Pittsburgh utilityman Jared Triolo.

“It’s an honor, of course,” said Frelick. “Still a bit surreal. Of course I think it’s even cooler to do it with Brice.”

Bregman received a $50,000 bonus, Giménez, Lugo, Moore and Witt received $50,000 and Santana received $25,000.

There were also 14 first-time winners in 2022.

Voting was conducted among managers and up to six coaches from each team, who cannot select players for their own club. Since 2013, votes have been counted using a defensive index from the Society for American Baseball Research, which accounts for about 25% of the total.

The utility category is based on a SABR formula and additional defensive stats.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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