Even though the Postseason is still going on, Award Season is right around the corner. That means that we’re starting to get names trickling in for awards such as the Gold Gloves. Rawlings has revealed the finalists for each position and as it turns out, the Braves will have two players in the running for taking home some hardware this fall.
Both Nick Allen and Matt Olson have been named finalists at shortstop and first base, respectively.
If we’re going by the metrics used by Statcast, both Allen and Olson deserve to be here and Olson should be an overwhelming favorite. Yes, Nick Allen did end up losing his starting job once the Braves acquired Ha-Seong Kim but that was solely because of his bat. Allen was fantastic with the glove at shortstop for most of the season, as he finished the year with 17 OAA (third among qualified shortstops and second in the National League only to fellow NL finalist Masyn Winn’s 21 OAA) and a Fielding Run Value of 12 (again, third among qualified shortstops and second only to Winn in the NL).
When it comes to DRS, Allen also finished in third in that category with 12 and again, that was good for second place in the NL — this time behind Mookie Betts, whose best-in-baseball among shortstops mark of 17 DRS is probably what got him on the finalist list alongside Allen and Winn since he lags far behind those two in OAA and Fielding Run Value. Either way, Nick Allen clearly deserves to be among the finalists for NL shortstops in the Gold Glove category.
Meanwhile, this is nothing new for Matt Olson. He’s already won two Gold Gloves in the AL with the Oakland Athletics and he appears to be finely positioned to pick up his third career Gold Glove and his first one in the NL. Defense was one of his calling cards upon arrival in Atlanta and it appears that he’s finally put together a season that’ll get him that third Gold Glove. Olson led baseball in Fielding Run Value among first basemen with an FRV of 8 and that was also good enough to place him third among all qualified corner infielders in that same category as well. Olson led the NL in OAA with 9 in that department and he absolutely smoked the field in DRS with a whopping 17 in that department for the season — Ty France came in second place with 9.
Matt Olson will have to contend with Spencer Steer (who deserves to be there) and Bryce Harper (who is a first baseman), and you’d be hard-pressed to make a real argument for either one of those two over Olson. Olson was arguably the best first baseman in all of baseball in 2025 and it wasn’t just because of what he did at the plate — he was an all-around great player last season and it sure seems like he’s the favorite to earn another Gold Glove as a result of that excellence.