Five Toronto Blue Jays players snubbed for prestigious MLB award

With the baseball season officially all done and dusted, Major League Baseball has begun handing out awards recognizing the league's top hitters and fielders.

The Toronto Blue Jays may have struggled to produce at the plate this season, but they were among the league's best teams when it came to fielding. So much so, five players were named finalists for the prestigious Rawlings Gold Glove Awards.

José Soriano (pitcher), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (first base), Brandon Valenzuela (catcher), Andrés Giménez (shortstop), and Nathan Lukes (right field) were all among the three American League finalists at their respective positions.

You'd think given Blue Jays players made up almost 19 per cent of the finalists for the nine Gold Glove Awards, they'd win one or two. That wasn't the case.

Five Blue Jays have been named 2026 Gold Glove Award finalists 👏 https://t.co/ZG2ZLdVEzv

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 14, 2026

For the first time in six seasons, the Blue Jays did not have a single Gold Glove winner.

The biggest surprise for many Blue Jays fans was Guerrero Jr.'s omission at first base, especially after what was arguably the best defensive season of his career. Instead, the award went to Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker.

"A Blue Jay gets robbed of a Gold Glove every single year without fail," one Blue Jays fan wrote on X.

"I think it's pretty clear that the voters of these awards are still not using advanced defensive metrics," wrote another.

Despite how bad Guerrero's season was at the plate, his defensive numbers happen to be among the American League's best.

Toronto's Vlad Guerrero Jr. led all AL first basemen in defensive runs saved (DRS). (Vincent Carchietta/Imagn Images)

He led all AL first basemen when it came to defensive runs saved (DRS) with 10, seven more than Houston's Walker. In addition, the 27-year-old averaged more putouts per nine innings.

DRS is often considered the holy grail when it comes to evaluating fielding statistics. It estimates the number of runs a player saved his team compared to the average fielder at the same position.

Guerrero's DRS proved he was more valuable to Toronto than Walker was for Houston – it's why fans are up in arms over Guerrero not winning this award.

Where Walker did have the edge, though, was in other areas, like innings played and fielding percentage. Guerrero also led American League first basemen when it came to errors with eight, compared to just three for Walker over 23 more games played.

Unlike some of MLB's other awards, the Rawlings Gold Glove winners are directly determined by the league's 30 managers, plus an additional six coaches from each team.

The votes from managers and coaches count for 75 per cent of the results, while the final 25 per cent comes from advanced defensive statistics from the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR).

Guerrero has previously only won the Gold Glove Award once in his career, which was during the 2022 campaign. Walker, on the other hand, has won the award four times throughout his 12-year career.