Red Sox rookie Abreu joins elite club with Gold Glove win

For the first time since in nearly half a century, the Red Sox have a rookie Gold Glove winner.

Rawlings’ 2024 Gold Glove Award winners were announced on Sunday night, with Wilyer Abreu taking home the American League right-field hardware over Angels’ Jo Adell and Yankees’ Juan Soto.

Abreu is the seventh rookie outfield winner in MLB history, and joins Fred Lynn (‘75) and Carlton Fisk (‘72) as the only Red Sox rookie winners. The Venezuelan native is also the second Red Sox player born outside the U.S. to win, a feat first achieved by Dominican-born catcher Tony Peña.

This is the second defensive award of the season for Abreu, who received the Fielding Bible Award for best defensive right-fielder last week. He led all right-fielders with 17 defensive runs saved (DRS) and nine outfield assists, and his 7 Outs Above Average were tied with Milwaukee Brewers’ Jackson Chourio.

Jarren Duran earned his first Gold Glove nod with stellar defense in center-field (and left) this season, with 11 OAA, 23 DRS, and an MLB-leading 12 outfield assists, but lost to Blue Jays’ Daulton Varsho, the only AL outfielder above him on the DRS leaderboard.

Another worthy Red Sox player was snubbed altogether. Despite being the first player in the Modern Era (since 1901) to play at least 60 games at both shortstop and centerfield, Ceddanne Rafaela wasn’t a finalist for the Utility Gold Glove. His 10 DRS were significantly better than the three finalists, who were worth six, minus-4, and minus-18, respectively.

Abreu is the first Red Sox player to win a Gold Glove since Mookie Betts in 2019.

Some former Sox were on the board, as well. Now-Yankee Alex Verdugo was nominated for AL left-field, but lost out to Steven Kwan, and after a stellar first season with the Atlanta Braves, Chris Sale took home his first career Gold Glove.