Nolan McLean Is the First Rookie Pitcher to Win a Gold Glove: What It Means for the Mets
Rawlings announced the 2026 Gold Glove winners Sunday night during an hour-long Baseball Tonight on ESPN, and the National League pitcher’s award went to a rookie for the first time in the history of the award. Nolan McLean of the Mets won it.
No rookie pitcher had ever won a Gold Glove. McLean also ended a drought that had become a running joke in Queens: the Mets had not had a Gold Glove winner since center fielder Juan Lagares in 2014.
Why he won it
McLean, 24, finished his first big-league season 12-10 with a 3.16 ERA across 31 starts and 179 2/3 innings. His 194 strikeouts led all MLB rookies, and amNY reported his ERA was the best among National League rookie pitchers with at least 100 innings.
The defensive case is narrower and it is the one that mattered to voters. He was credited with four Defensive Runs Saved, with 16 putouts and 24 assists. Runners attempted eight steals against him, succeeded six times, and he picked off three. He finished with 3.5 fWAR.
The voting is not purely a popularity contest. Per the Rawlings release, managers and up to six coaches per team vote and cannot vote for their own players, and the SABR Defensive Index accounts for roughly 25 percent of the total.
“This year’s Rawlings Gold Glove Award recipients represent the very best in defensive excellence,” SABR chief executive Scott Bush said in the release.
The Mets history behind it
McLean is only the second pitcher in franchise history to win the award, after Ron Darling in 1989. The Mets now have 21 Gold Gloves as an organization. With the 12-year streak broken, amNY notes the Nationals hold the longest active drought in baseball, with no winner since 2012.
The other Mets note from Sunday is a near-miss. Outfielder Carson Benge posted the highest Arm Value in baseball according to Statcast, with 4.3 fWAR, six Defensive Runs Saved and 10 assists over 134 games, and lost the National League right field award to Corbin Carroll.
The rest of the class
Tanner Bibee of Cleveland took the American League pitcher award, his first. The Red Sox and Diamondbacks each had three winners, the most of any club. Christian Walker of Houston and Matt Olson of Atlanta each won a fourth career Gold Glove, more than anyone else in this year’s group.
Boston’s three were Caleb Durbin at third base, Ceddanne Rafaela in center and Wilyer Abreu in right. Arizona’s were catcher Gabriel Moreno, shortstop Geraldo Perdomo and Carroll. World Series champion Milwaukee had two, second baseman Brice Turang and left fielder Jackson Chourio. Alex Bregman won at third base for the Cubs, with Pete Crow-Armstrong in center. Cody Bellinger took American League left field for the Yankees, Dillon Dingler won behind the plate in Detroit, Cole Young at second in Seattle and Taylor Walls at shortstop in Tampa Bay. The utility awards went to Ezequiel Duran of Texas and Mauricio Dubon of Atlanta.
Rawlings counted nine first-time winners and 11 returning recipients.
What it means going forward
The Platinum Glove, which goes to the best overall defender in each league, is still open. Fan voting at Rawlings.com closes Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, with the SABR Defensive Index again factoring in, and the winners get announced at the Gold Glove ceremony in New York on Friday.
The bigger question for McLean lands November 9, when the National League Rookie of the Year is announced. amNY calls him a long shot there, with Sal Stewart of the Reds and JJ Wetherholt of the Cardinals seen as the favorites and Benge given better odds among Mets candidates.
That is the strange shape of McLean’s first year. He may not win rookie of the year in his own league, and he already owns an award no rookie pitcher had ever won.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
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