The Tampa Bay Rays have one player left contending for a top defensive honor.
Taylor Walls was named a finalist for a Rawlings Gold Glove Award on Wednesday, earning one of the three spots designated for utility players. Houston Astros outfielder and second baseman Mauricio Dubón and Detroit Tigers corner outfielder and middle infielder Zach McKinstry are the other American League finalists alongside Walls in the utility category.
Walls played between 246 and 292 innings at shortstop, second base and third base in 2023, splitting his 99 appearances fairly evenly between the three positions. He spent the first half of the season primarily at second and third, but he took on more work at short once Wander Franco hit the restricted list and rookie Osleivis Basabe started to struggle.
Despite leading the AL in dWAR in 2022, Walls was not named a Gold Glove finalist last October.
That changed this year, as he racked up another 1.5 in dWAR. Walls posted a .975 fielding percentage, making just eight errors on the season.
Walls leads the three finalists with six defensive runs saved, and his dWAR also ranks first among the trio.
The Rays have not had a Gold Glove winner since outfielder Kevin Kiermaier won one in 2019. Before that, their most recent was third baseman Evan Longoria's in 2017.
The full list of Gold Glove finalists can be found here.
Winners will be announced Nov. 5 on ESPN. Managers and coaches across the league make up the voting body, but they are not allowed to vote for players on their own team.
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