2026 MLB Gold Glove winners: Pete Crow-Armstrong wins second honor, Red Sox and D-backs lead with three each

The best defenders in baseball were honored Sunday night as Major League Baseball handed out its Gold Gloves Nov 1, 2026 at 9:36 pm ET • 2 min read Getty Images The winners of the 2026 Rawlings Gold Glove were announced Sunday night by Major League Baseball and, as expected, Cubs wunderkind Pete Crow-Armstrong took home his second straight National League Gold Glove in center field. PCA, who also won a Gold Glove in 2025 and is expected to be named the NL MVP in 2026, was the best defender in baseball this past season based on both the numbers and the eye test. Here are the game's best defenders in 2026 according to Statcast's Fielding Runs Value, an all-encompassing metric that factors in range and arm, as well as blocking and framing for catchers: Pete Crow-Armstrong: +26 FRVJJ Wetherholt: +23 FRVBobby Witt Jr.: +17 FRVMasyn Winn: +17 FRVSeveral tied with +16 FRVCrow-Armstrong's +26 FRV is the fifth best in a single season since FRV launched in 2016 and the second best by a non-catcher, trailing only Nick Ahmed's +28 FRV season at shortstop in 2018. Gold Gloves have be awarded since 1957 and are given to the best defensive player at each position in each league. That first year was one MLB-wide honor at each position. In 1958, Gold Gloves were split into AL and NL. Also, it used to be three outfielders per league regardless of exact position. Now the outfield spots are broken down into left field, center field, and right field. Winners are determined through manager/coach voting (75%) and a statistical component (25%). Team employees can not vote for their own players. While MLB announced "finalists" for each Gold Glove a few weeks back, remember that the voting was already complete and those finalists were simply the top three vote-getters at each position. This means, obviously, that postseason performance had no impact. Here now are the 2026 Gold Glove winners. American League PositionWinnersOther finalistsCatcher Dillon Dingler (Tigers) Brandon Valenzuela (Blue Jays) and Austin Wells (Yankees) First base Christian Walker (Astros) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays) and Vinnie Pasquantino (Royals) Second base Cole Young (Mariners) Michael Massey (Royals) and Chase Meidroth (White Sox) Shortstop Taylor Walls (Rays) Andrés Giménez (Blue Jays) and Bobby Witt Jr. (Royals) Third base Caleb Durbin (Red Sox) Brooks Lee (Twins) and Nick Loftin (Royals) Left field Cody Bellinger (Yankees) Wyatt Langford (Rangers) and Chandler Simpson (Rays) Center field Ceddanne Rafaela (Red Sox) Evan Carter (Rangers) and Steven Kwan (Guardians) Right field Wilyer Abreu (Red Sox) Nathan Lukes (Blue Jays) and Cam Smith (Astros) Pitcher Tanner Bibee (Guardians) Jacob deGrom (Rangers) and José Soriano (Angels/Blue Jays) Utility Ezequiel Duran (Rangers) José Caballero (Yankees) and Zach McKinstry (Tigers) National League PositionWinnersOther finalistsCatcher Gabriel Moreno (Diamondbacks) Freddy Fermin (Padres) and Luis Torrens (Mets) First base Matt Olson (Braves) Ty France (Padres) and TJ Rumfield (Rockies) Second base Brice Turang (Brewers) Brandon Lowe (Pirates) and JJ Wetherholt (Cardinals) Shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (Diamondbacks) Dansby Swanson (Cubs) and Masyn Winn (Cardinals) Third base Alex Bregman (Cubs) Max Muncy (Dodgers) and Javier Sanoja (Marlins) Left field Jackson Chourio (Brewers) Ian Happ (Cubs) and Daylen Lile (Nationals) Center field Pete Crow-Armstrong (Cubs) Michael Harris II (Braves) and Andy Pages (Dodgers) Right field Corbin Carroll (Diamondbacks) Carson Benge (Mets) and Seiya Suzuki (Cubs) Pitcher Nolan McLean (Mets) Michael McGreevy (Cardinals) and Chris Sale (Braves) Utility Mauricio Dubón (Braves) Jared Triolo (Pirates) and Ildemaro Vargas (Diamondbacks)