The Toronto Blue Jays are taking home some hardware this offseason, with the club announcing last night that the team secured the American League Team Gold Glove Award for the second year in a row. It was at the same event where Daulton Varsho was presented with his Gold Glove Award as well.

The Blue Jays front office have made numerous defensive additions over the past few seasons while having some internal players stand out with their fielding ability. Varsho, Kevin Kiermaier, Alejandro Kirk, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and Ernie Clement led the charge last season for the squad and are the main reasons why the club is taking home this award again.

Last season, the Jays posted a league-leading 102 DRS while also putting forth a collective .984 fielding percentage while making 92 errors on the season.

As a team, the Jays authored a +26 outs above average, ranking fourth in the league, and had seven players rank +1 or above.

Leading the charge was Varsho, who posted a 28 DRS and a 16 OAA respectively, while Ernie Clement – who also earned a Gold Glove nomination this season – amassed a 15 DRS and a 7 OAA. Behind the plate, Kirk and his one-knee down approach put forward a +12 DRS (catchers don’t compile an OAA) and threw out 31% of base stealers, nine percent over the league average.

For those who were traded at the deadline, Kiermaier and Isiah Kiner-Falefa contributed 9 and 12 DRS respectively while Justin Turner stood pat at zero.

Newcomers also had an impact on the numbers for the Blue Jays, with Joey Loperfido leading the charge with his 4 DRS through 41 games. Will Wagner through his cup of coffee contributed +1 to the group as well while playing second base.  Of the internal prospects/players, Nathan Lukes authored a 5 DRS through 173 innings to round out the season while Addison Barger and Steward Berrora put forward 3 DRS each. Leo Jiménez added 2 points to the group as well while former Jays infielder Luis De Los Santos put up +1 during his 74 1/3 innings.

On the opposite end of the scale, Danny Jansen and Spencer Horwitz impacted the team’s numbers with each player posting a -6 DRS respectively. A majority of the negative values for the club are at -1 or -2, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer, Davis Schneider, and newcomer Jonatan Clase fitting into the grouping. Bo Bichette also added -3.

While the Blue Jays struggled to find success this season and enter the 2025 season without a postseason win in almost a decade, the defence continues to be a driving force for the squad. This offseason, the Blue Jays are gearing towards adding some power and pitching that likely doesn’t fit the narrative of the ‘defence first’ mentality but I think many fans would trade a potential third A.L. Team Gold Glove Award for some postseason success.