Tuesday, November 03

SEATTLE -- Cole Young’s breakout season has culminated with a remarkable individual honor. 

The Mariners’ second baseman was named the Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner at the position for the American League on Sunday -- and he did so in his first full season in the Majors. 

Young edged out fellow finalists Michael Massey of the Royals and Chase Meidroth of the White Sox, the results of which were revealed in a special ESPN telecast.

He is Seattle’s first Gold Glove Award winner since catcher Cal Raleigh and utility player Dylan Moore in 2024 and its first full-time infielder to take home the hardware since shortstop J.P. Crawford and first baseman Evan White in 2020. He also became just the third second baseman in franchise history to win the award, joining Bret Boone (2002-04) and Harold Reynolds (1988-90).

There’s also a youth factor that made this even more special, as Young (23 years and 60 days old) became the third-youngest second baseman to win a Gold Glove by age at the end of the season, behind only Ken Hubbs (20 years and 107 days in 1962) and Bill Mazeroski (21 years and 221 days in 1958), per the Elias Sports Bureau.

Young led all AL second basemen in nearly every defensive category, including games played (157), innings (1,350 1/3), putouts (223), assists (397), fielding percentage (.990) and defensive runs saved (16). 

He also had a productive year at the plate, with a slash line of .246/.312/.381 (.693 OPS) to go with 17 homers, four triples, 19 doubles and 76 runs scored over 160 games, good for 2.0 wins above replacement (per FanGraphs) and a 102 wRC+ (league average is 100).

But the part of this story that illustrates his truest growth is how far he’s come in just a short span. 

When Young debuted on May 31, 2025, he was just 21 years old and still harnessing his work-in-progress defense. Having come up as a shortstop, he didn’t transition to second base more full-time until late in his Minors journey. There were lapses with the glove, not to mention that he lost his grip on the starting job by the end of that year and was left off the club’s postseason rosters. 

That led to a very deliberate offseason last winter that focused heavily on physical conditioning, which allowed him to make leaps forward with his all-around game -- and become the Mariners’ Iron Man, playing in all but two games in 2026. He’s also credited former Mariners infield coach Perry Hill for having a huge influence on this progress.

The Gold Glove Awards are presented by Rawlings annually, honoring the best defenders at each position in the AL and NL since 1957. Major League managers and coaches vote within their league, excluding players from their own team, which accounts for 75% of the selection process. The SABR Defensive Index counts for the other 25%.

The Mariners had at least one player win a Gold Glove in 24 consecutive seasons from 1987-2010, beginning with Mark Langston’s Gold Glove at pitcher in 1987. Overall, Seattle players have captured 45 Gold Gloves, including 30 since 1998.

The anticipation has reached its most palpable stage to the Mariners’ managerial hire, as the club’s decision-making process extended through the weekend. 

Seattle has been extremely tight-lipped throughout its internal operation, and no new information surfaced in the four days since MLB.com reported that it had concluded a finalist round of in-person interviews last week with Jason Kanzler then Joe Espada. 

What could this mean?

Well, the obvious is that it seems clear president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander are vetting every last detail before coming to their conclusion. Dipoto has “full autonomy” on the hire, but Hollander has been his right-hand man the entire time. 

It’s also possible that an offer went out and that the selected candidate is in their own decision-making process. There could be further negotiations taking place, too, such as contract details. 

There’s even the possibility that they are considering other options -- though one source said last Wednesday that doing so would be a very slim possibility. 

When this entire process began, on Sept. 28 and the day after the regular season ended, the Mariners had targeted a hard internal deadline of having their successor to Dan Wilson in place before the General Managers Meetings, which run from Nov. 9-12 in Las Vegas. That’s just one week away. 

It’s certainly possible that they could adjust that deadline. But logic would affirm that such a timeline makes sense, given that the collective bargaining agreement’s expiration looms on Dec. 1, and that they’d want to give the new hire plenty of runway to get to know players.

The reality is that we just don’t know exactly where the Mariners are at right now. So, we wait a little longer.

The Mariners did, however, make headway on other personnel hires over the weekend -- as MLB.com learned that it is in the process of hiring CJ Gillman to be their new hitting coach. 

Gillman was the club’s Minor League hitting coordinator from 2022-25 then spent '26 as the director of hitting for the Nationals, who experienced an offensive breakout. 

The 37-year-old has an extreme familiarity with many of the Mariners’ young prospects, infielder/outfielder Michael Arroyo, shortstop Colt Emerson, outfielder Lazaro Montes and second baseman Cole Young. But he was also an occasional presence to the big league team during his tenure, when popping in from time to time. 

Speaking of Arroyo, the club announced on Friday that the youngster underwent an elbow scope procedure last week with Dr. Keith Meister -- and that he won’t be ready for game action until April. 

With that timeline, his Spring Training would be impacted and he’d begin the 2027 season on the injured list. 

Also, the team announced last week that it had made its decision on the club options it carried on Bryce Miller, Andrés Muñoz and Victor Robles.

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