Cole Young’s Gold Glove case at second base is real, but it’s anything but airtight.
The Mariners have plenty to point to if they want to argue for their 23-year-old second baseman. In SABR’s latest published SDI rankings, which covered games through Aug.
9, Young sat first among AL second basemen at 3.8. Zach McKinstry was next at 2.9, and Chase Meidroth checked in sixth at 0.3.
Because SABR hasn’t released a newer in-season update, that list is only a snapshot, not the final word.
Still, SDI matters. It accounts for about 25 percent of the Rawlings Gold Glove selection process, with the rest coming from managers and coaches. That gives Young a real foothold in the race.
So does DRS. Sports Info Solutions named Young one of its Defensive Players of the Month for March and April, and through the first half it had him leading the American League second basemen with 11 Defensive Runs Saved.
That’s enough to build a serious award argument. It’s also enough to give Mariners fans something solid to hang their hat on. But then Statcast gets a turn, and the picture changes fast.
As of Sept. 11, Baseball Savant had Young at -4 Outs Above Average at second base and -3 Fielding Run Value overall.
Meidroth, by comparison, had +8 OAA and a +9 Fielding Run Value when MLB.com’s experts picked him as their projected AL Gold Glove winner on Sept. 8.
That’s not a small difference. It’s a chasm.
The split makes sense when you look at how these systems work. DRS and OAA are measuring similar ground, but they don’t value positioning, range, opportunity and play difficulty in the same way.
SDI tries to stitch multiple systems together into a broader view. None of them gives the full story on its own.
And that’s exactly why Young can look like one of the best defensive second basemen in the league on one leaderboard and ordinary on another. His strongest support comes from DRS and SDI, while Meidroth has the cleaner Statcast case. Gold Glove voters will have to decide whether they trust Young’s pile of converted plays or Meidroth’s edge in Statcast’s estimated difficulty.
Seattle has already seen enough growth to feel good about the bigger picture. Young posted -9 OAA across 621 innings at second base in his 2025 debut.
In 2026, he has logged more than 1,200 innings there and settled in as an everyday player. Statcast still has its doubts, but DRS, SDI and even the eye test point to a clear step forward.
The bottom line is simple: Young deserves to be in the finalist mix, and Meidroth has a legitimate path to the trophy. Young’s numbers keep the race alive, but they don’t make him a lock.
And for Seattle, the real win may be bigger than any award. Second base finally looks like a position with an answer, not a stopgap.
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