Rawlings and Major League Baseball rolled out their 2022 Gold Glove Awards Tuesday afternoon, naming former Gaucho Shane Bieber as the winner in the American League pitchers spot.
Bieber is the second UCSB Baseball player to ever earn the honor, joining Michael Young (2008), and will have to make room in his trophy case as the prestigious award will now join his 2019 MLB All-Star MVP and his 2020 AL Cy Young.
The Gold Glove Award honors the best defenders at each position in each league. Major League managers and coaches, voting only within their league and unable to vote for players on their own teams, account for 75 percent of the selection process. The other 25 percent goes to the sabermetrics community.
Along with being just the second Gaucho ever chosen, Bieber is the first Cleveland pitcher to take home the glove as well. Three of his Guardian teammates were chosen as well in Andres Gimenez, Steven Kwan, and Myles Straw who together set a franchise record with four Gold Gloves in the same season. The Cleveland quartet broke a 22-year old record set in 2000.
This season Bieber had just one error on 32 chances and recorded 15 put-outs and 16 assists over his 200 innings of work. His chances, put-outs and assists are all career-highs and he has only committed two errors in his five-year career.