The Marlins’ Gold Glove Finalists Weren’t Their Most Deserving
Three deserving Marlins are up for Gold Glove Awards this year, but their very best candidate may not have been nominated at all.
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2025 was a season full of surprises for the Miami Marlins.
It dates back to before the season started when they decided to move on from Jesus Luzardo, which spelled what was supposed to be a near 100-loss season on the horizon. Yet, they ended their season with 79 wins, finishing third in the NL East. Propelled by non-roster invitees, rookies debuting, and what seems like a positive culture and environment instilled by the revamped coaching staff, we enter award season, where the Marlins recently had three players nominated for Gold Gloves.
Second baseman Xavier Edwards, outfielder Kyle Stowers, and utilityman Javier Sanoja have all been nominated for the first time in their careers. While they are still looking to formulate a consistent offense, being able to support their pitching staff with above-average defenders in multiple spots on the field is only going to bode well for the future of this ball club.
For those wondering how the nominees are decided on, per MLB.com:
“To determine the winners at the nine standard positions, the 30 MLB managers and up to six coaches from each team vote from a pool of players in their league, excluding players from their own team. These votes comprise 75% of the selection total, with the SABR Defensive Index counting for the other 25%. For the utility position, Rawlings collaborated with the SABR to create a specialized defensive formula separate from the traditional selection process.”
That last sentence will be especially relevant to this article, but I wanted to highlight what Edwards and Stowers did on the defensive side of the ball this year.
Xavier Edwards transitioned back to second base at the end of May after the shortstop experiment did not go well. He accumulated +12 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and a +7 fielding value.
Kyle Stowers not only had a career year at the plate, but the first-time All-Star has also been nominated for his first Gold Glove Award. Stowers, having played all three outfield spots throughout the year, put up +2 DRS and 1 FRV in left field specifically, which is the position for which he was nominated for the award.
Then we have likely the biggest surprise, Javier Sanoja.
Who Is Javier Sanoja?
Never mind the player headshot on all of the player profile pages for Javier Sanoja, if you were to meet him in person, the last profession you’d guess he had was a Major League Baseball player.
Regardless of looks, Sanoja played a key role for the Marlins from the moment he made his 2025 debut for the Marlins.
Sanoja filled the quintessential utility role exactly according to the definition of the words. Except for spending time behind the dish, first base, or in right field, Sanoja dabbled at every other position on the field. Throughout his time at each, he had 7 DRS and 2 FRV across 785 innings during the season.
Aside from the -2 DRS at the shortstop position, where he spent the second-least amount of time, Sanoja provided steady defense for the Marlins consistently. As a matter of fact, he did not have a success rate less than 75% at any other position but shortstop.
Sanoja, at just 22 years old, became the youngest position player to spend a full season on the Marlins’ active roster since Giancarlo Stanton. Sanoja initially made his way to the Marlins organization as an international signee out of Venezuela, where he got a $90,000 signing bonus.
The role that Javier Sanoja fills for the Miami Marlins is very reminiscent of the one that Emilio Bonifacio filled for them during his time with the Marlins. He likely will not be a master of any specific tool, but if he can be a steady bat off the bench, especially as a gold-glove caliber defender, he will find himself sticking on the big league roster.
The Marlins’ Major Gold Glove Snub
This is in no way a detriment to the three Fish finalists, but the best defender on the team was not a nomination.
That player is shortstop Otto Lopez.
The finalists at shortstop for the award were Nick Allen (ATL), Masyn Winn (STL), and Mookie Betts (LAD). All of which were also deserving of the award, but Lopez was right up there with them in Outs Above Average (OAA), which is more impressive when you consider he was the one who flipped positions with Edwards at the beginning of June.
In just two months at second base before the move, Lopez had accumulated 6 OAA, with an 84% success rate, in his 130 total attempts.
Lopez also ranked 4th in the National League among qualified players, in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) with seven, which ranked above Winn, who was nominated for the award. If you were to look at Defensive WAR alone, per Baseball Reference, Lopez would rank 4th in the National League with 2.1. That’s higher than each of the other finalists at shortstop outside of Betts.
To be able to accomplish as much as he did, with almost 300 fewer total innings than those nominated for the award, should have impacted the voters’ decisions more than it did. Not to mention that he also missed valuable time dealing with an injury that put him in the injured list for two week.
The former waiver claim continues to be one of the more undervalued and underappreciated players in all of baseball. Leaving him off of this only further adds to that.
The Marlins Are Doing it Right
Piece by piece, the Marlins seem to be constructing a roster that has continued to overperform all of the expectations that many have set for them. This looks to be just the beginning of a team well-positioned to make a run towards postseason contention again soon.
Congratulations to the three Marlins finalists for the Gold Glove Award.
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Cristian has been at Just Baseball since 2021, when he first started writing about prospects. He spent eight years working in Major League Baseball with the…