One of the areas in which the Tampa Bay Rays excelled in the 2025 MLB regular season was defensively. They got the job done around the diamond, with their total of +42 Defensive Runs Saved being sixth best in the league.
Only the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves had higher marks. Where the Rays were most productive was at shortstop, where their +19 DRS was the best in the Major Leagues.
Second base for the Blue Jays (+22), third base for the Pittsburgh Pirates (+27), left field for the Cleveland Guardians (+22), center field for Toronto (+24) and right field for the Boston Red Sox (+24) were the only positionals higher than what Tampa Bay produced at shortstop. The Blue Jays were also +19 at catcher.
Providing an overwhelming amount of that production at shortstop for the Rays was Taylor Walls. He had a DRS of +17, which was tied for the eighth-highest mark in all of baseball in 2025.
It should come as no surprise that he was named one of the Gold Glove finalists at the position in the American League. Joining him were Corey Seager of the Rangers and Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals.
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That is some stiff competition for Walls to be facing. And ultimately, Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report believes he is going to fall short in his pursuit of the Gold Glove Award.
The MLB writer has predicted that Witt will take home the award for the second consecutive year. He has cemented his reputation as a great fielder, which helps, along with the metrics backing him up.
Where Walls is going to fall short is in the workload and Outs Above Average. Witt is lapping the field in both regards, registering 1,340 innings defensively at shortstop while the Tampa Bay star had only 720.2 innings, while battling injury.
Witt was tied for the lead amongst all defenders with an OAA of +24. Walls was at +1 OAA on the season, which was in the 69th percentile. That difference more than makes up for the gulf between the two in DRS, where Walls is 14 better than Witt and Seager is 13.
Had the Rays’ defensive whiz been able to stay on the field for the entire season, his case to bring home the hardware would have been much stronger. He is certainly one of the best defenders in baseball, but Witt’s availability will likely give him the edge.