SIS is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Fielding Bible Awards. This marks the 19th season that we have honored the best defensive players in MLB. The awards are voted on by a panel of experts who consider statistical analysis, the eye test, and any other factors that they wish to utilize.
We are also announcing the winner of our second annual Defensive Player of the Year award.
This year’s group of winners includes three players who previously won a Fielding Bible Award and seven first-time winners. It also marks the first time that two rookies won the Award in the same year (Winn and Abreu). The Giants and Guardians were the only teams to have multiple players win an Award this year.
The winners are:
Defensive Player of the Year
Daulton Varsho is our second annual Defensive Player of the Year. Varsho led all players with 28 Defensive Runs Saved. Varsho’s defensive dominance extends beyond this past season. He leads all players in Defensive Runs Saved over the last three seasons combined.
“Daulton Varsho is a highly deserving winner of Defensive Player of the Year,” said SIS editorial operations lead, Mark Simon. “He played with an incredible effort level and a determination to make every play he possibly could. He had a fantastic season and this is one of his rewards for it.”
Said Blue Jays manager John Schneider: “Daulton never ceases to amaze us. We are really spoiled with him out there. Guys love playing with him because he makes tough plays look routine and makes everyone around him better. It feels like he makes game-changing plays and picks us up every single night. We’ve been saying he’s the best defender in baseball for the last two years, and I’m glad he’s starting to get the proper recognition for it.”
Individual Positions
First Base – Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves
Olson won a Fielding Bible Award for the fourth time in his career. He previously won it in 2018, 2019, and 2020. The only first baseman to win it more often than Olson is Albert Pujols (five times).
Olson led all first basemen with 13 Defensive Runs Saved. After recording 27 and 26 Defensive Misplays & Errors in 2022 and 2023, respectively, he cut that number to 19 in 2024. As per usual for him, he also rated well above average on balls hit to his right.
Olson is also highly durable. He led MLB in innings played at first base and has played 162 games in each of the last three seasons.
Olson is the first Braves player to win an Award since pitcher Max Fried won in 2020. Olson is the only Braves player to win the Award at first base.
Second Base – Andrés Giménez, Cleveland Guardians
Giménez won his second straight Fielding Bible Award, joining Dustin Pedroia (2013, 2014) and Kolten Wong (2018, 2019, 2020) as second basemen to do that since the Awards began in 2006.
Giménez put up nearly identical defensive numbers to those he had in 2023. His 20 Defensive Runs Saved ranked second among second basemen. He was 11 plays saved above average on balls hit to his right and 10 plays above average on balls hit to his left, each of which ranked second-best in MLB. He easily led second basemen with 33 Good Fielding Plays.
The Guardians have now had multiple Fielding Bible Award winners in three straight years, with Steven Kwan and Myles Straw winning in 2022, Giménez and Kwan winning in 2023, and Giménez and Tanner Bibee winning in 2024 .
Giménez is the only Guardians player to win an Award at second base.
Third Base – Matt Chapman, San Francisco Giants
Chapman won a Fielding Bible Award for the third time in his career. He also won it in 2018 and 2019. He was one vote shy of being a unanimous selection in all three instances.
Chapman easily led third basemen with 17 Defensive Runs Saved. No one else at the position had more than 10 Runs Saved in 2024. Chapman rated above average on balls hit to his right, to his left, and straight-on.
Chapman and Patrick Bailey are the third and fourth Giants to win an Award, joining Pedro Feliz (third base, 2007) and Buster Posey (catcher, 2015 and 2016).
Shortstop – Masyn Winn, St. Louis Cardinals
Winn won his first Fielding Bible Award. He is the seventh different shortstop to win the Award in the last seven years. Winn and Wilyer Abreu are the fifth and sixth rookie to win a Fielding Bible Award, joining Troy Tulowitzki (2007), Mike Trout (2012), Ke’Bryan Hayes (2021), and Steven Kwan (2022).
Winn was MLB’s premier shortstop when it came to turning double plays. In fact, his 6 Double Play Runs Saved is tied with Andrelton Simmons for the most in a season by a shortstop since Runs Saved was first tracked in 2003.
The Cardinals have won an MLB-best 21 Fielding Bible Awards since the Awards were first given in 2006. Winn is the first Cardinals shortstop to win an Award.
Left Field – Riley Greene, Detroit Tigers
Greene won his first Fielding Bible Award and snapped Steven Kwan’s two-year run of winning the Award in left field.
Greene led all left fielders with 14 Defensive Runs Saved, which was helped by 3 home run robberies. He led the position in Runs Saved despite ranking 19th in innings played.
Greene is the first Tigers player to win an Award since Ian Kinsler won at second base in 2015 and is the first Tigers left fielder to win a Fielding Bible Award.
Center Field – Brenton Doyle, Colorado Rockies
Doyle, runner-up for a Fielding Bible Award last year, won the award in a close vote this year.
Though Doyle got off to a slow start, he led center fielders in Defensive Runs Saved from May 1 through the end of the season. His 22 Good Fielding Plays for the season were the most among center fielders. He led the position in that stat last year as well.
Doyle is the first Rockies outfielder to win a Fielding Bible Award.
Right Field – Wilyer Abreu, Boston Red Sox
Abreu, a rookie, won his first Fielding Bible Award. He and Masyn Winn are the fifth and sixth rookie to win a Fielding Bible Award, joining Troy Tulowitzki (2007), Mike Trout (2012), Ke’Bryan Hayes (2021), and Steven Kwan (2022).
Abreu led all right fielders with 17 Defensive Runs Saved and 6 Outfield Arm Runs Saved. He had above-average range on shallow, medium, and deep fly balls.
Abreu is the second Red Sox player to win an Award in the last four years (Kiké Hernández, multi-position, 2021). He is the second Red Sox right fielder to win a Fielding Bible Award. The other is Mookie Betts, who won it for them in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Catcher – Patrick Bailey, San Francisco Giants
Bailey, the runner-up for a Fielding Bible Award last year, won for the first time this year.
Bailey led all catchers with 20 Defensive Runs Saved. He led all catchers in Strike Zone Runs Saved, a stat that measures a catcher’s skill at getting more strikes than expected. He also ranked tied for third in Stolen Bases Runs Saved.
Bailey joined Buster Posey as the only Giants catchers to win a Fielding Bible Award. Posey won it in 2015 and 2016.
Pitcher – Tanner Bibee, Cleveland Guardians
Bibee, the MLB co-leader in Defensive Runs Saved for pitchers, won his first Fielding Bible Award.
Bibee’s 6 Runs Saved were equally split between the range component and the stolen base component. He held baserunners to 6 stolen bases against 6 caught stealing. He also co-led the American League and ranked third in the major leagues with 4 pickoffs.
Bibee is the only Guardians pitcher to win a Fielding Bible Award.
Multi-Position – Daulton Varsho, Toronto Blue Jays
Varsho narrowly missed out on a Fielding Bible Award last year but would not be denied in 2024. He won the Award for the first time in his career.
Varsho ranked second among center fielders with 16 Defensive Runs Saved AND tied for second among left fielders with 12 Runs Saved. He did that despite ranking 27th in innings played in center field and 36th in innings played in left field. This is the second consecutive year that Varsho had at least 10 Runs Saved at each of those positions. Varsho excelled at catching both deep and shallow fly balls and also had 3 Outfield Arm Runs Saved.
Varsho is the first Blue Jays player to win the multi-position Award, which has been voted on annually since 2014. This is the second straight year a Blue Jays player won a Fielding Bible Award. Kevin Kiermaier won in center field last season.
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The 2024 Awards were determined by a panel of 16 voters, who ranked the top 10 players at each defensive position (including a spot for multi-position players) on a scale from 1 to 10 at the conclusion of the regular season. A first place vote gets 10 points, second place gets 9 points, third place gets 8 points, etc. Total up the points for each player, and the player with the most points wins the award. A perfect score is 160 points. There were no unanimous selections this year.
The panel voted its top three choices for Defensive Player of the Year, with first place getting 5 points, second place 3 points, and third place 1 point.
Our voting panel consisted of SIS co-founder John Dewan, along with Daniel Álvarez-Montes (El Extra Base, editor/writer), Ben Clemens (FanGraphs, writer), Chris Dial (sabermetrician), Alyson Footer (MLB.com, editor), Tyler Kepner (The Athletic, writer), Bill Ladson (MLB.com, writer), Eduardo Pérez (ESPN, broadcaster), Hal Richman (Strat-O-Matic, founder), Eno Sarris (The Athletic, writer), Travis Sawchik (The Score, writer), Bobby Scales (Detroit Tigers, radio broadcaster), Joe Sheehan (Joe Sheehan’s Baseball Newsletter, writer), Mark Simon (SIS, writer), Dani Wexelman (MLB Network Radio, broadcaster), and an aggregate vote from the SIS Video Scout staff.
