Ramón Urías wins first career Rawlings Gold Glove

Rawlings today announced that RAMÓN URÍAS has been named the 2022 American League Gold Glove Award recipient at third base. The award is voted on by Major League managers and coaches, which accounts for 75 percent of the selection process. The other 25 percent is based on the SABR Defensive Index™ (SDI).

Urías, 28, led AL third basemen and finished third among all AL fielders with an 11.1 SDI. He was 3.9 SDI better than the next qualified AL third baseman. Urías’ SDI is the best by an Orioles fielder since J.J. HARDY’S 11.9 in 2016 and the best by a Baltimore third baseman since MANNY MACHADO’S 11.8 in 2015. SDI is a measure of the number of runs saved by a player's defensive performance over the course of a season, compared to the average defensive player at that position. The SDI combines measures from six different defensive data sources and includes factors that rate a defender’s arm strength and accuracy, range and sure-handedness, and the number of “excellent” and “poor” fielding plays made.

He also led AL third basemen with 14 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), per Sports Info Solutions, and with a 10.9 Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR), per FanGraphs. Urías’ DRS is the best in a single season by an O’s third baseman since Machado’s 18 in 2015. His UZR is the best by an Orioles defender since Hardy’s 11.4 in 2014 and the best by a Baltimore third baseman since Machado’s 20.8 in 2013. Both DRS and UZR take a variety of game situations into account including infielders’ performance on balls hit in the air, range, throwing success, double play ability, fielding bunts, and the impact of good plays/misplays that are not accounted for in other components.

Urías tied for the AL lead among third basemen with seven Outs Above Average (OAA), per Statcast. Since MLB began tracking in 2016, his OAA are tied with Machado for the most by an Orioles third baseman. OAA is a range-based metric of skill that shows how many outs a player has saved.

This season, he finished with eight errors in 259 total chances at third base for a .969 fielding percentage and nine errors in 350 combined total chances between second base, third base, and shortstop for a .974 overall fielding percentage.

He is the first Oriole to win a Gold Glove since Machado (3B) in 2015 and only the third Orioles third baseman to earn the honor in team history (since 1954), joining Machado (2x) and Orioles Legend and National Baseball Hall of Famer BROOKS ROBINSON (16x).

Voting for the Platinum Glove Award, given to the best defensive player in each league, will open online at rawlings.com beginning at 6 p.m. ET today and will remain open until Wednesday, November 9 at 11:59 p.m. The Rawlings Platinum Glove Award winners will be unveiled at the Rawlings Gold Glove Award Ceremony at the Plaza Hotel in New York, N.Y. on Friday November 11.