UCLA Infielders Awarded Premier Defensive Honors

After leading the UCLA Bruins to a 48-win season and first Omaha appearance in 12 years, sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky and sophomore first baseman Mulivai Levu were awarded American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and Rawlings Gold Gloves.

The infield tandem is the first UCLA duo to receive Gold Gloves in the same season in program history. The sophomores are also the fourth and fifth Bruins to receive the award, preceded by Griffin Canning in 2020, Beau Amaral in 2012 and Pat Valaika in 2013.

Cholowsky over the course of the 2025 season staked his claim as one of the best players in college baseball and is projected to be the No. 1 prospect in the 2026 MLB Draft. The shortstop won Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, the Brooks Wallace Award, District 9 Player of the Year, Perfect Game USA Player of the Year, ABCA First Team All-American honors, NCBWA Second Team All-American Honors, finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, all in his sophomore season.

This season, he led the nation with 20.15 defensive runs saved and a 1.51 defensive WAR. He only had seven errors all season, which included a two-month stretch from Feb. 28 - April 29 without committing one.

As UCLA's first baseman all season, Levu finished with an astonishing .998 fielding percentage, committing just one error in 569 chances.

The tandem led the Bruins to hold the seventh-best fielding percentage in the nation (.982) while accounting for the country's most double plays turned, many of their 66 total being between the sophomore duo.

Cholowsky and Levu are at the core of what is a young UCLA baseball team that was, quite frankly, ahead of schedule during it's College World Series run which ended on Tuesday after a loss to the No. 3 seeded Arkansas Razorbacks.

Finishing last season with 19 wins, the Bruins' 29-win leap this season was an unprecedented improvement from a team riddled with sophomore and freshman talent.

With nearly all of John Savage's players returning next season and the postseason scars they endured this year, Westwood is primed to have a breakout year in 2026.