Multiple Blue Jays Shockingly Come Up Short for Gold Glove Awards

This one was a bit strange since teammates Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ty France were finalists against each other alongside Carlos Santana of the Cleveland Guardians. Most of France's numbers came from when he was with the Minnesota Twins before the Blue Jays acquired him, and he actually led first basemen with 10 outs above average.

Meanwhile, Guerrero had 10 defensive runs saved, a notable number that was on display throughout the playoffs. Santana continued to be impressive this year despite his age of 39. He was going for back-to-back Gold Gloves.

But ultimately, France beat out Guerrero to take home his first-ever Gold Glove Award. While he didn't have a huge role with Toronto following the trade, what he did with the Twins secured him this honor.

Alejandro Kirk

Alejandro Kirk has been nothing short of impressive during his career, and that was the case once again this season. As both an elite offensive and defensive player, he has proven to be a key cog for Toronto.

He has incredible numbers behind the plate this year with a plus-21 in blocks above average. He also ranked second in catcher framing runs at plus-16. Up against Dillon Dingler of the Detroit Tigers and Carlos Narvaez of the Boston Red Sox -- who both had some impressive numbers on their ends -- this was shaping up to be a battle for Kirk.

But despite the performance Kirk had, it was Dingler who walked away with the award.

Andres Gimenez

The defensive wizard was used to replace Bo Bichette at shortstop when he went down with injury, but Andres Gimenez was a finalist for the Gold Glove Award at second base. Looking to win his fourth consecutive award, he was up against Marcus Semien of the Texas Rangers and Luis Rengifo of the Los Angeles Angels.

Gimenez paced the group with 10 outs above average. Semien was worth seven. Rengifo, who entered the season considered a below average defender, had five defensive runs saved. Because of that, it was hard to imagine Gimenez wasn't going to win the Gold Glove once again.

However, that wasn't the case after all. Instead, it was Semien who won his second career Gold Glove Award, with his last coming in 2021 when he was with Toronto. That will be a hard pill to swallow for Gimenez.

Ernie Clement

Ernie Clement was up for the award across two positions, as he was a finalist at third base and the utility role. Clement was against Maikel Garcia of the Kansas City Royals and Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Guardians at third base, while he was a finalist alongside Mauricio Dubon of the Houston Astros and Daniel Schneemann of the Guardians in the utility category.

It's easy to see why the breakout Blue Jays star was up for a Gold Glove at two positions. His defensive bWAR was tied for the most in the MLB and he finished with 13 outs above average across third, shortstop and second base.

Dubon was excellent on defense across the diamond again with 14 defensive runs saved and 20 outs above average. Schneemann had eight OAA and eight DRS. At third base, Garcia was incredible with 13 defensive runs saved and 17 outs above average. Ramirez was plus-seven in outs above average, while Clement recorded six OAA and 11 DRS when solely at third base.

Clement came up empty when it came to the honor at third base, as Garcia was the winner for the incredible showing he had at the hot corner. And he also wasn't able to win it for the utility role, either, as Dubon was the winner once again.

It's hard to not be shocked by the lack of hardware given to Blue Jays considering so many were nominated and they were one of the best, if not the best, defensvie teams in the MLB all year.

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