Drayer: Mariners’ two Gold Glovers took different paths to their awards
Mariners Insider, Seattle Sports
The gold patch that adorns a precious few gloves throughout the game catches the eye. It’s like the knowing nod, and they all know.
“I think it’s it’s pretty cool to see,” said the Seattle Mariners’ Dylan Moore. “If you’re just watching a game, you’re looking around and you see the gold, it’s pretty cool. It’s it’s a, ‘Hey, this guy can really pick it,’ you know? It’s ‘This guy is a really good defender at at whatever position he’s doing.’ It’s a pretty cool mark for sure.”
It’s the mark of an award – the Rawlings Gold Glove winners – and the Mariners have two for 2024: Moore at utility player for the American League, and Cal Raleigh, who had his sights set on the honor from the start of the year, at AL catcher.
“It’s always nice to see the hard work pay off,” said Raleigh, “and that was something personally, for me this year going into the season, I wanted to contend for. And it worked out well and it was something really cool you get to share with your family and friends, and something that you know doesn’t happen every day.”
Raleigh’s growing game
Sharing with family – particularly his father Todd, who played in the minors and coached collegiately – has been an offseason highlight.
“It’s a really cool moment to share with him,” Raleigh said. “Growing up, you say those things and you see those accolades, for me to accomplish that, it’s a lifelong goal and something that will never be taken away from me. He’s a lot of the reason why I am where I am today and why I won it.”
Raleigh, who is also a finalist for the AL Silver Slugger Award at catcher, led MLB in 2024 in catcher caught stealing (26) and innings caught (1122.0), and he paced AL catchers in framing runs (13) and tied for the AL lead in defensive runs saved (16).
Coming out of the 2023 season, Raleigh saw pitch framing as a potential area for improvement, one that could help his pitchers. It was not something that was asked of him; rather, he took the initiative himself despite being met with an initial reaction of skepticism from his coaches, as often risk comes with change at the big league level.
“You never want to lose the tool that you’re good at, and you don’t want to completely change and lose something that you already do well,” he pointed out. “But at the same time, you want to get better and you want to continue to grow and continue to find things that work and don’t work. And along the way, there was a lot of things that I figured out that worked for me and a lot of things that didn’t work for me. It was definitely a lot of test runs and trials and errors, but definitely worth it in the long run.”
Pitch framing is a skill that some would call an art, and Raleigh appears to have mastered it – perhaps much to the surprise of those who thought Raleigh might not stick at catcher when the Mariners selected him in the third round of the 2018 MLB Draft. The progress behind the plate was steady in the minors, however, and continued at the big league level where he put himself on a fast track to taking over the position and all that came with it.
In his call with the media Monday, Raleigh pointed out it wasn’t always smooth sailing. He was sent down after his initial MLB call up in 2022 and there were struggles. He understood that was part of the process, a process he embraced.
“It’s kind of cool just because you always want to make it to the big leagues and you finally achieve that dream,” he said. “And then the next thing is is learning how to stick and finding your niche, finding your thing – how are you gonna be an everyday ballplayer in the big leagues? I have really enjoyed learning what it takes to kind of become a consistent, everyday big league baseball player. It’s a lot harder than I ever thought but the journey is definitely worth it. And it it makes it a lot of fun. It’s been a good first three years.”
Moore embraces his versatility
For Moore, his path was set in the minors, where it took an unexpected turn. Drafted in 2015 by the Texas Rangers as a shortstop/second baseman, his versatility ultimately landed him in a utility role, a position that at the time was not nearly as prevalent as it is now.
When the Mariners started to tear down following the 2018 season, one of the first moves made by Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto (then general manager) was to sign Moore, who had never played at the big league level.
The assumption was that Moore perhaps would compete for a spot on the 25-man roster. There was surprise when Dipoto asserted he would be on the team as a player that could play just about anywhere.
Moore’s first start for the Mariners on March 30, 2019 against the Boston Red Sox was memorable for the wrong reason – he committed three errors at third base. Undaunted, he solidified his spot and his role, and he has been on the Mariners’ big league roster every day since other than a seven-game stint in Triple-A in 2019.
Like every utility or platoon player, Moore believes he is an everyday guy. That said, he has known and embraced his role every day he has been in a Mariners uniform.
“I made the team as a utility player and I had that mindset going into every season, and I take a lot of pride in that,” he said. “I take a lot of pride in being able to fill in for guys who need to rest. If there’s an injury, like, this is my role. And so I’ve had that mindset to be the best player that I can be in my role on the team since my rookie year.”
In recent years, Moore has had the benefit of working with Mariners assistant Perry Hill (nicknamed “Bone”), who is regarded as one of the the best infield coaches in the game. When he received the news, Hill was one of the first calls made.
“I called Bone immediately,” Moore said. “He was in his ‘The Defense Stops’ shirts, which I thought was hilarious, but he said, ‘That’s awesome, you deserve it.’ I told him how much it means to me to do this for him. You know, he’s had 11 or 12 Gold Glovers now, and it speaks to his level of teaching the skills of fielding, and he’s the man.”
Seattle Mariners’ two Gold Glovers
Hill was not the only Mariner thrilled to see Moore get the recognition at a position that wasn’t recognized with the award until recently.
“I was super excited,” Raleigh said of Moore. “What he does every day on a daily basis is super hard. It doesn’t go unnoticed. Every day having to carry four different gloves on the field and never knowing exactly where you’re going to play that day. You could come into short, first, outfield, it doesn’t really matter.
But you know, he does a great job of preparing every day. He gets reps in each spot. And it’s just hard. It’s a skill I’ve learned (that) you didn’t really see as many of those people in the minor leagues, just because everybody had more of a position.
Then we get to the big leagues, you learn, well, that’s something that’s really valuable. Every single team needs it, and for him to do it at such a high level is really impressive.”
The appreciation goes both ways with Moore calling the Gold Glove selection of Raleigh at catcher a no-brainer.
“He’s a rock, man,” Moore said. “He’ll play through anything. He gets worn out back there. He’s our guy. He’s the guy. He’s the captain behind the plate, besides J.P. (Crawford) in the infield. He’s going to go out there every day through injury.
Not just the big injuries, but the dinks off the mask, off any part of your body. I mean, every single day he’s going through something. And he was throwing guys out.
He was calling the game. He was doing all that stuff.
It’s a really tough thing to do. And on top of that, he he hit (0ver) 30 homers, which is unbelievable. So I think of him as a player who exemplifies the Mariner way and I hope he can stick around for a while.”
In addition to the two major leaguers who were awarded Gold Gloves, the organization also picked up a minor league Gold Glove, which is given to just one player at each position regardless of level, with Double-A second baseman Brock Rodden taking the honors.
