Cole Young took home his first career Gold Glove yesterday, and if you think he is chilling out after racking up that hardware, you don’t know Cole Young. The dude is already planning his off-season, and it absolutely does not involve boosting virtual cars. He even laughed about it, saying he knows the new GTA game “can be very addicting” and he doesn’t “want to get addicted to that game.” That kind of disciplined focus is exactly what just got him the Golden Glove.
From Consistency to Gold: The Second Baseman’s Ascent
Young has always been that steady performer, climbing through the minors and up to MLB by being the same person every single day, never getting too high or too low. That consistency is his gift. But even he couldn’t deny how much he wanted that Gold Glove once his name started popping up as a candidate mid-season. That vision sharpened until it became reality on Sunday night. He talked with Mariners infield coach Perry Hill about his chances, admitting he “had no idea” if it was going to happen, but knew it was “a close close run” and he felt “super grateful to be in that position.” Young earned that position thanks to the same top-tier discipline that has propelled him his entire professional career. He put refining his defense front and center when he identified areas to improve from his rookie to sophomore year, honing in on it as something he could control in a sport that often feels like it is out of a player’s hands. “The thing I’ve noticed with defense is that you can control a lot of the stuff,” Young said. “You can control your pre-pitch routine. You can control where you think the ball is going to get hit. There’s just so many controllables on defense.”
The Numbers Don’t Lie: A Gold Glove Earned Through Grit
It is true Young was maybe a dark horse compared to other candidates like the Royals’ Michael Massey and Chase Meidroth, who made the playoffs with the White Sox. Both of them actually had better numbers by MLB’s in-house stat, Outs Above Average (OAA), though Massey had significantly fewer games at second base. But here is the thing for Seattle fans: Young outperformed Meidroth in Sports Info Solutions’ Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), racking up a phenomenal 17. That is best among AL second basemen and eighth-best overall in the entire league. This award is a partial reward for an off-season Young spent attacking and correcting flaws that limited his playing time in his rookie season. He realized everything in baseball begins with the body, so he overhauled his conditioning and improved his feet and hands, using Perry Hill’s “six Fs” of fielding (feet, field, funnel, footwork, fire, follow) as his base. “The number one thing for me this past off-season was getting my body in good shape, just so I could move better, get my body in better position so I could make difficult plays. That was number one for me,” Young stated. He even felt like he could have played well past the end of the season this year, all thanks to his improved focus on conditioning and taking care of his body.
So yeah, while the rest of us might be dreaming of virtual glory, Cole Young is already locked in for the real thing. Get ready, Emerald City, because if this first Gold Glove is just a reward for his sophomore grind, imagine what he is going to bring to T-Mobile Park next season. This kid is just getting started!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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