Steve Webb
LOS ANGELES, CA — Never any doubt. For the 6th time in his still young career, Mookie Betts has one the Gold Glove award for right fielders. After not winning the prize in his injury plagued 2021, Betts has won his second award in three years in Dodger Blue.
Gold Glove Award winners are chosen based on a combination of voting by managers and coaches, and approximately 25% of a stat called the the SABR Defensive Index (SDI). Only the manager and six coaches from each club vote, for a total of seven submissions per team. Managers and coaches cannot vote for their own players and can only submit ballots for those in their same league.
Betts only made two errors in the field in 2022, and had eight outfield assists. That translates into a .994 fielding percentage over 136 games. His Defensive Runs Saved rating of 15 was good for second in the NL, trailing only the Reds’ cannon-armed Aristides Aquino in that category.
In my mind, this award was the easiest to call in recent memory. In winning the award, Betts beat out other nominees Daulton Varsho of the D-backs, who is a great outfielder, and Juan Soto, who, quite frankly, is not. Whatever Soto’s virtues, he is no Mookie Betts in right.
Betts now joins an elite group of outfielders who have won at least six Gold Gloves before turning 30. Ken Griffey Jr. leads the pack with 10 trophies, followed by Andruw Jones with nine and Al Kaline with seven. Betts’s win puts him now in a tie with the Orioles’ brilliant Paul Blair, who ended his career with 9 Gold Gloves in centerfield. The most all-time by any outfielder is Willie Mays, who won 12 fielding trophies during his Hall of Fame career. It’s not inconceivable that Betts gets close to that mark before he’s done.
The Dodgers’ other nominee, pitcher Tyler Anderson, did not take home the award. Instead, it went to local boy Max Fried, who had another great year defensively for the Atlanta Braves.
