Cole Young’s second season in the majors ended with hardware.
The Seattle Mariners second baseman won his first Gold Glove on Sunday night, with MLB and Rawlings naming him the American League winner at second base over Kansas City’s Michael Massey and Chicago’s Chase Meidroth.
For Seattle, it’s another defensive honor to add to the recent run. Young is the first Mariner to take home a Gold Glove since Cal Raleigh won the AL Gold Glove at catcher and AL Platinum Glove award and Dylan Moore won the AL utility player Gold Glove in 2024. At second base, Young is the first Mariners player at the position to win it since Bret Boone ran off three straight from 2002-04.
The award also puts Young in a very small club in franchise history. He became just the second player in Mariners history to win a Gold Glove at age 22 or younger, joining Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., who did it three times from 1990-92.
Young, a first-round pick in 2022, is also the first player from that draft class to win a Gold Glove. Meidroth, another 2022 draftee, was among the finalists he beat out.
The numbers behind Young’s case were loud. He led AL second basemen with 16 defensive runs saved, and Massey’s five were the next closest. Young also paced the group in fielding percentage at .990, games played with 157, innings played with 1,350 1/3, assists with 397, putouts with 223 and double plays with 69.
Not every defensive metric agreed. Young’s minus-four fielding run value and minus-five outs above average at second base were both last among the AL Gold Glove finalists at the position.
Young’s season wasn’t just about the glove, either. At the plate, he took a clear step forward, finishing with a .246/.312/.381 line, 17 homers, 19 doubles, four triples, 66 RBIs, 44 walks and 109 strikeouts in 160 games.
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