Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings earns NL Gold Glove Award for outstanding defense

The Pittsburgh Pirates have championed Jacob Stallings as the best defensive catcher in baseball, one worthy of the game’s highest honor.

When the NL Gold Glove winners were announced Sunday night on ESPN, the Rawlings belonged to Stallings.

Stallings was in elite company with his fellow finalists. He edged out nine-time Gold Glove winner Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals and 2019 Gold Glove winner J.T. Realmuto of the Philadelphia Phillies.

“It’s really cool,” Stallings told ESPN. “The guys in the National League, it was a pretty star-studded list. I don’t know that I feel worthy to be in the same sentence with those guys, but to be voted in by the coaches … I wasn’t sure I was going to get enough votes, but I couldn’t be happier. It’s really a dream come true.”

It was the first Gold Glove for Stallings, a 2020 finalist who led all major league catchers this past season in defensive runs saved (21) and pitch block rate (95.5%) and proved his reputation as an elite blocker by not allowing a passed ball in 892 innings.

No one works harder. No one deserves this more.

A big congrats to Jacob Stallings on being named a Gold Glover! pic.twitter.com/4Qnxm6qT6d

— Derek Shelton (@derekshelton) November 8, 2021

“If there’s one constant, it’s been Jacob Stallings, and he just continues to improve,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said in early September. “He should win it. Statistically, it’s proven.”

Per Rawlings, Gold Glove finalists and winners are selected by managers of all 30 MLB teams and up to six of each team’s respective coaches based off SABR Defensive Index in their league. They are not permitted to vote for players from their own team.

The first Pirates player to win a Gold Glove since left fielder Corey Dickerson in 2018, Stallings also became the first Pirates catcher to win the award in more than three decades. Tony Pena won three consecutive from 1983-85, and Mike LaValliere won in 1987.

Stallings was one of three Pirates who were Gold Glove finalists, but neither shortstop Kevin Newman nor center fielder Bryan Reynolds took home the award. San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford won his fourth Gold Glove, topping Newman and Francisco Lindor of the New York Mets. St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Harrison Bader beat out Reynolds and Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, regarded as the Pirates’ best defender, fell shy of the minimum innings requirement after missing the first two months with a left hand injury and didn’t qualify.

It was a long road for the 31-year-old Stallings, who was designated for assignment in July 2016 and had only 125 career starts entering the 2021 season. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington credited Stallings for constantly working on his craft to become a standout defensive catcher.

“So much of defensive improvement and being a great defender is simply the willingness to work at it, and not just to work at it in time spent, but the willingness to be open-minded, how to work at it, how to train, what information to use and what not to use, trying new things,” Cherington said in October. “ ‘Stalls’ just does that consistently. It’s not just that he has pride in it, but he’s willing to challenge himself to get better, put the time in, and if you do that as a player, with that specific skill, defensive skill, we see pretty consistently that improvement happens.”