The Cleveland Guardians ended the season with three finalists for Gold Gloves, and two would end up winning. It was Steven Kwan and Andres Gimenez winning the awards for the second straight season, while a Gold Glove continues to elude Jose Ramirez.
Kwan being able to start his career off with two straight Gold Glove Awards in the outfield is beyond impressive. It can take young outfielders a little bit of time to become fully acclimated to playing outfield in the majors, but that is not something that applies to Kwan. The second-year outfielder led all left fielders in runs prevented (8) and outs above average this past season (9), while his 10 outfield assists ranked ninth among all outfielders. With a season resume like this, it is pretty safe to say Kwan did more than enough to win this award for the second straight season.
This was the second full season in the majors with the Guardians organization for Gimenez, having spent some time with the Columbus Clippers during the 2021 season. Since then, the former New York Mets infielder has established himself as one of, if not the premier defensive second baseman in the American League. Gimenez led the American League in runs prevented (14) and outs above average (18), only trailing San Francisco Giants' Thairo Estrada in both categories (15, 20).
It was always going to be a tough task for Ramirez to win a Gold Glove, as he finished as a runner-up for the fifth time in his career. Ramirez was in a group that also included Alex Bregman and Matt Chapman. Chapman would go on to win for the fourth time in his career and fourth time in the last five full seasons.
Meat Loaf once sang, "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad," and while that has absolutely nothing to do with baseball, two out of three Guardians' Gold Glove finalists coming away with awards ain't bad.