This story was excerpted from Daniel Kramer’s Mariners Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
SEATTLE -- Cole Young’s breakout season has culminated with a remarkable individual honor.
The Mariners’ second baseman was named the Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner at the position for the American League on Sunday -- and he did so in his first full season in the Majors.
Young edged out fellow finalists Michael Massey of the Royals and Chase Meidroth of the White Sox, the results of which were revealed in a special ESPN telecast.
He is Seattle’s first Gold Glove Award winner since catcher Cal Raleigh and utility player Dylan Moore in 2024 and its first full-time infielder to take home the hardware since shortstop J.P. Crawford and first baseman Evan White in 2020. He also became just the third second baseman in franchise history to win the award, joining Bret Boone (2002-04) and Harold Reynolds (1988-90).
There’s also a youth factor that made this even more special, as Young (23 years and 60 days old) became the third-youngest second baseman to win a Gold Glove by age at the end of the season, behind only Ken Hubbs (20 years and 107 days in 1962) and Bill Mazeroski (21 years and 221 days in 1958), per the Elias Sports Bureau.
Young led all AL second basemen in nearly every defensive category, including games played (157), innings (1,350 1/3), putouts (223), assists (397), fielding percentage (.990) and defensive runs saved (16).
He also had a productive year at the plate, with a slash line of .246/.312/.381 (.693 OPS) to go with 17 homers, four triples, 19 doubles and 76 runs scored over 160 games, good for 2.0 wins above replacement (per FanGraphs) and a 102 wRC+ (league average is 100).
But the part of this story that illustrates his truest growth is how far he’s come in just a short span.
When Young debuted on May 31, 2025, he was just 21 years old and still harnessing his work-in-progress defense. Having come up as a shortstop, he didn’t transition to second base more full-time until late in his Minors journey. There were lapses with the glove, not to mention that he lost his grip on the starting job by the end of that year and was left off the club’s postseason rosters.
“This game is so hard,” Young said, “so it's just super important to keep working hard every single day and just be ready for anything that comes your way. The game is always going to give you challenges, no matter what you do. But for me, it's just so important that I'm dialed in on my offseason routine and even [my] in-season routine, too.”
Indeed, all of this led to a very deliberate offseason last winter that focused heavily on physical conditioning, which allowed him to make leaps forward with his all-around game -- and become the Mariners’ Iron Man, playing in all but two games in 2026.
“Once I got to Spring Training, that's when I kind of noticed it,” Young said. “Once I got out on the field, and I just felt like I was able to move better, and I just felt really good in spring, and I think that gave me some confidence going into the season that I could play every day in the big leagues and be good defensively.”
Young has also credited former Mariners infield coach Perry Hill for having a huge influence on this progress. Young became the 12th Gold Glover that Hill directly coached in the season in which he won, and the fourth in Seattle (J.P. Crawford and Evan White in 2020 and Moore in ‘24).
But Hill was among four from last year’s coaching staff that will not be retained in 2027.
“Obviously, it's super tough,” Young said.
The Gold Glove Awards are presented by Rawlings annually, honoring the best defenders at each position in the AL and NL since 1957. Major League managers and coaches vote within their league, excluding players from their own team, which accounts for 75% of the selection process. The SABR Defensive Index counts for the other 25%.
The Mariners had at least one player win a Gold Glove in 24 consecutive seasons from 1987-2010, beginning with Mark Langston’s Gold Glove at pitcher in 1987. Overall, Seattle players have captured 45 Gold Gloves, including 30 since 1998.