Blue Jays: Assessing Brandon Valenzuela’s chances at winning the Gold Glove
Photo credit: © Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images
Oct 18, 2026, 14:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 18, 2026, 13:39 EDT
The Toronto Blue Jays love defensively sound catchers.
In 2026, the team had three main catchers, Alejandro Kirk, Brandon Valenzuela, and Tyler Heineman. All three of them finished in the top five for catcher Defensive Runs Saved and Fielding Run Value. However, only Valenzuela was nominated for the American League Gold Glove for the backstop.
His competition for the award is reigning Gold Glove winner Dillon Dingler of the Detroit Tigers and Austin Wells of the New York Yankees. In this article, we’ll take a look at his chances of winning his first award in Major League Baseball.
Valenzuela’s 2026 season behind the plate
Joining the team after Kirk’s thumb injury four games into the season, the switch-hitting 26-year-old had a strong season behind the plate.
He only appeared in 618.2 innings, but he accumulated 9 Defensive Runs Saved and 13 Fielding Run Value in that stretch. Valenzuela ranked second in both categories in the American League. Additionally, Valenzuela committed just nine errors, but surrendered a passed ball and 31 wild pitches, the latter was second-most for any AL catcher with 500+ innings caught.
Diving a bit deeper into his defence, Valenzuela had one of the strongest arms behind the plate last season. Catcher’s Caught Stealing Above Average is a stat courtesy of Statcast, and his 8 finished tied for the most alongside Joe Mack. The American League catcher with the second-highest CCSAA was Adley Rustchman, who finished with six. Valenzuela also threw out 19 of 63 would-be base stealers, good for a 30.2% caught stealing percentage.
The 26-year-old also happened to be one of the best framing catchers according to Statcast, finishing with 8 Catcher Framing Runs, good for second in Major League Baseball. Ironically, Kirk finished with 7 CFR, an area he’s excelled at for years at this point.
Where Valenzuela and Kirk differ is their blocking abilities. Even with his injuries, Kirk’s 15 Block Above Average (another Statcast metric) ranked first. It’s not really surprising, given that his 53 BAA since 2023 ranks first, significantly ahead of Sean Murphy’s 39 BAA for second place. Valenzuela didn’t find the same success, finishing the year with -3 BAA, tied for 46th-best.
It’s an area that needs improvement in the future, but the good news is that it can improve drastically, unlike a strong throwing arm. For example, Kirk wasn’t known for his blocking (or defence) as a prospect.
How Valenzuela stacks up against the other nominees
Wells had a solid season behind the plate. In 959.1 innings, he finished with 8 DRS, tied for third, as well as 7 FRV, good for sixth in the American League. Wells has a similar profile to Kirk, a weaker arm that he makes up for thanks to his blocking and framing abilities. Last season, he finished with 9 BAA (seventh) and 7 CFR (tied for third). His ability to throw out runners wasn’t great, finishing with a -3 CCSA.
Then you have Dingler, the reigning AL Gold Glove winner for the catching position. The Tigers’ backstop finished with 15 DRS and 16 FRV in 995.2 innings behind the plate, ranking first in both categories in the American League. He’s a well rounded catcher as well, with his CCSAA of 5 ranking tied for fifth, finishing top in CFR with 9, and his BAA of 11 ranking tied for fourth.
So who wins?
Last year, Kirk was far and away the best defensive catcher in the American League, but he fell short to Dingler. Seriously, Dingler had no business winning the award, and it’s not the first time that Kirk has been robbed of what would be his first Gold Glove.
This time around, Dingler is the clear winner. No catcher in MLB finished with a higher DRS or FRV, though former Blue Jay Gabriel Moreno was pretty close with 14 DRS. Dingler also finished top five in the three underlying metrics, the blocking, framing, and throwing out runners.
There’s also the fact that both Dingler and Wells caught significantly more innings behind the plate than Valenzuela. Dingler eclipsed him by nearly 400, with his 995.2 innings ranking third-most in MLB. Wells’ 959.1 innings ranked fourth, while Valenzuela’s 618.2 innings ranked 27th-most.
Still, it was a good breakout season for the Blue Jays’ backup catcher.
Cynthia Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, DFOEdmonton, and DFOCalgary. She can be followed on Twitter @CynthiaRDelaney.