Arlington, Texas – Three Texas Rangers have been announced as winners of 2023 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards at their respective positions in the American League, all first-time winners: catcher Jonah Heim, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, and rightfielder Adolis García.
The announcement was made by the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company on Sunday night in a televised show on ESPN. The Rawlings Gold Gloves are presented for defensive excellence each year.
This is the first time in Rangers history for the club to have three individual Gold Glove Award winners in a single season, as the team had two winners in 10 previous years. Texas has a trio of Gold Glove players in 2023 after totaling two winners in the previous six years combined (2017-22), both of those instances in 2020: rightfielder Joey Gallo and third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa. With the addition of this year’s three winners, the Rangers have now had 17 different players win a Gold Glove Award in team history.
Voting was conducted before the end of the regular season and finalists were announced on October 18. Two other Texas finalists were not selected as winners: second baseman Marcus Semien and shortstop Corey Seager.
Heim joins Iván Rodríguez and Jim Sundberg as the only catchers in Rangers history to win a Gold Glove Award. Rodríguez won the award 13 times, most ever by a backstop, with 10 of those wins coming in consecutive years with the Rangers from 1992-2001. Sundberg’s six wins with Texas from 1976-81 rank fifth all-time among catchers. A first-time All-Star in 2023, Heim’s 27.5% (22 of 80) caught stealing percentage led the American League while his 6 defensive runs saved led all A.L. catchers.
Lowe becomes just the fourth Ranger to win a Gold Glove Award at first base, joining Mark Teixeira (2005, 2006), Rafael Palmeiro (1999), and Mitch Moreland (2016). He registered a career-best .998 fielding pct. (3 E/1330 TC) over 161 games/starts at first base, the 2nd-highest mark among qualified A.L. first basemen. Lowe’s career-best 3 defensive runs saved led all qualified A.L. first basemen.
García is a first-time winner and just the fourth outfielder selected in Rangers history, joining Juan Beniquez (1977), Gary Pettis (1990), and Joey Gallo (2020). The first-time All-Star and 2023 American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player had a team-leading 11 outfield assists during the regular season, ranking tied for third in the A.L. His 37 outfield assists since the start of 2021 lead MLB. According to FanGraphs, García ranked third among qualified MLB rightfielders in both defensive runs saved (7) and ultimate zone rating (6.4). He also ranked tied for third among A.L. outfielders with 2 outs above average (Statcast).
This year’s Gold Glove Award winners will be honored in a ceremony in New York City this Friday, November 10.
RAWLINGS PLATINUM GLOVE AWARD FAN VOTING
Voting for the 2023 Rawlings Platinum Glove Award will take place from 7:30 p.m. CT tonight through Thursday November 9 at 10:59 p.m. CT at www.rawlings.com. There will be one winner in both the American League and National League. The only previous winner for Texas was Adrián Beltré, who won the first two A.L. platinum awards in 2011 and 2012.