The 2026 Fielding Bible Awards brought a tight race, a few firsts and a familiar defensive standard across Major League Baseball, with the winners announced Thursday by Sports Info Solutions.
The awards recognize the top defender at each of the nine positions, plus a multi-position winner, an overall Defensive Player of the Year and a Defensive Team of the Year. This is the 21st year of the honors, and the results come from a panel of experts weighing statistics, the eye test and whatever else they choose to factor in.
At second base, Brice Turang took the prize for Milwaukee. He finished second in the majors in 2026 with 23 defensive runs saved, and became the first Brewer to win a Fielding Bible Award since Lorenzo Cain in center field in 2019.
Third base went to Alex Bregman of the Cubs, who led all third basemen with 15 DRS. It’s his first Fielding Bible Award in his 11th major league season, and it’s also the Cubs’ first win at third base.
Taylor Walls owned shortstop. He tied for third in the majors and was far ahead of the rest of the position with 21 defensive runs saved, as no other shortstop topped 13. The Rays picked up their first Fielding Bible Award since Kevin Kiermaier in center field in 2020.
In center field, the voting couldn’t have been tighter. Ceddanne Rafaela and Pete Crow-Armstrong finished in a mathematical tie, with each player getting eight first-place votes, seven second-place votes and two third-place votes. Rafaela got the nod because of the defensive runs saved tiebreaker, 21 to 16.
Right field belonged to Wilyer Abreu, who led the majors with 28 defensive runs saved, five more than anyone else. It’s his second Fielding Bible Award, and it gave the Red Sox a majority of the outfield honors.
The multi-position award went to Zach McKinstry of the Tigers, his first Fielding Bible Award. He’s now the sixth straight player to win that category over the last six seasons. McKinstry is one of only two Tigers to win an award since 2015, joining Riley Greene, who took left field in 2024.
“We understand the split vote between PCA and Rafaela may seem counterintuitive at first, but ultimately it reflects how historically close the vote was,” said SIS VP of analytics Joe Rosales. “Given the extremely tight margins, and given how great a season both players had, it seems only fitting that both players are getting honored with an award. Congratulations to both Pete and Ceddanne!”
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