Stat of the Week: 2026 Fielding Bible Awards Preview – Part I

This year's winners will be announced on October 22. Here, we preview the top candidates at catcher and infield.

Our next two Stat of the Weeks will focus on the top candidates for The 2026 Fielding Bible Awards.

This is the 21st annual edition of the Awards, which are voted on by a panel of experts that include media members, statisticians, and former players. They vote based on whatever criteria they choose, including observation and subjective judgement as well as statistical analysis. Each position has one overall winner, different from the Gold Gloves which has one in each league. There's also a multi-position winner and winners for Player of the Year and Team of the Year.

The Fielding Bible Awards will be announced on Thursday October 22 from 2 to 3 pm ET on Bluesky.

This week, Part I of our preview looks at the top Fielding Bible and Gold Glove Awards contenders among catchers and infielders.

(Defensive Runs Saved totals in parentheses)

Catcher

Fielding Bible Award Favorites: Dillon Dingler (15), Gabriel Moreno (14)

NL Gold Glove Favorites: Moreno, Luis Torrens (12)

AL Gold Glove Favorites: Dingler

Other Fielding Bible Award Contenders: Brandon Valenzuela (9), Joe Mack (9), Patrick Bailey (8)

This should be a close vote. Dillon Dingler ranked No. 1 in both the pitch framing and pitch blocking components of Defensive Runs Saved, and he did well in our stolen base defense component too. But there were several other catchers who had worthy seasons too.

Two of them are Gabriel Moreno and Luis Torrens. Moreno's best case is in how much better the Diamondbacks pitchers were when he caught them (3.75 ERA) vs when others caught them (4.90 ERA). Torrens was a good pitch framer and the toughest catcher in baseball to steal against for most of the year but those numbers came down a little bit in the latter part of the season and he slipped slightly behind Dingler and Moreno.

First Baseman

Fielding Bible Award Favorite: Ty France (15)

NL Gold Glove Favorites: France, Matt Olson (11)

AL Gold Glove Favorite: Vladimir Guerrero (10)

Other Fielding Bible Award Contenders: Vinnie Pasquantino (7), T.J. Rumfield (6)

This will be an interesting vote. Ty France won a Gold Glove last year but has been even better this season. He's been especially effective at taking away the 3-4 hole from opposing hitters. Matt Olson is a little bit behind France in Runs Saved but is close enough that if he won, it wouldn't be an upset. He's won the Award five times previously, including each of the last two years, matching Albert Pujols for the most Awards at first base.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. probably isn't going to challenge for the Fielding Bible Award but he's got a good chance to win his second AL Gold Glove after leading AL first basemen in Runs Saved. He won his first in 2022.

Second Baseman

Fielding Bible Award Favorite: Brice Turang (23)

NL Gold Glove Favorite: Turang

AL Gold Glove Favorite: Cole Young (16)

Other Fielding Bible Award Contenders: JJ Wetherholt (13), Brandon Lowe (13), Nasim Nuñez (13)

Brice Turang has won a Gold Glove Award and a Platinum Glove Award but he's never won a Fielding Bible Award. He's got a very good chance this year as our metrics show he decisively had the best season of any second baseman in MLB (though MLB's Fielding Run Value had JJ Wetherholt ahead of him). Turang covered ground exceptionally well going to his left and to his right and as a result his 23 Runs Saved was a career high.

Similarly Cole Young of the Mariners is the statistical favorite for the AL Gold Glove, at least per Defensive Runs Saved. No other AL second baseman is close to his 16 Runs Saved this season. Young's numbers were solid from the beginning of his second MLB season all the way through to the end as he was consistently near the top of the leaderboard.

Shortstop

Fielding Bible Award Favorite: Taylor Walls (21)

NL Gold Glove Favorite: Masyn Winn (10)

AL Gold Glove Favorite: Walls

Other Fielding Bible Award Contenders: José Caballero (13), Zach Neto (9), Bobby Witt Jr. (8)

Taylor Walls of the Rays has been well regarded by Defensive Runs Saved for years but has yet to be rewarded with a Fielding Bible Award. This year he played considerably more than he had in previous seasons and was easily No. 1 among shortstops in Runs Saved. He's actually the Runs Saved leader for shortstops over the last six seasons by a wide margin too (32 runs better than the second-place shortstop, Dansby Swanson).

Masyn Winn, who won the Award in 2024, is a formidable candidate who has been rated more favorably than Walls in other metrics, so he could pose a threat to Walls' winning and take home an NL Gold Glove too. He led NL shortstops in Runs Saved.

Third Baseman

Fielding Bible Award Favorites: Alex Bregman (15), Matt Chapman (15)

NL Gold Glove Favorites: Bregman, Chapman

AL Gold Glove Favorite: Caleb Durbin (13)

Other Fielding Bible Award Contenders: Maikel Garcia (10)

Matt Chapman played only 83 games due to injury but he was so good in limited playing time that he tied Alex Bregman for the MLB lead in Runs Saved at third base. Bregman had his best year in Runs Saved by a good margin. While many third basemen make highlight reels for making plays on balls hit down the line, Bregman excelled on balls hit in the shortstop-third base hole.

So did Caleb Durbin, the other strong contender for the Award. You might recall there was some question as to whether Durbin would play second base or third base after being obtained in a trade by the Red Sox. Looks like the Red Sox made a good choice by playing him at third base.

Next week we'll look at outfielders, pitchers, the multi-position award, and Team of the Year.