Padres' Ty France, Freddy Fermin Among Gold Glove Finalists

[Steve Drumwright]

There was a reason (or two) why the San Diego Padres' defense was much-improved during the 2026 season. And now there is tangible proof.

First baseman Ty France and catcher Freddy Fermin were revealed as finishing in the top three for NL Gold Gloves on Wednesday. There is only one round of balloting, which was already done. The winners at each position in each league will be announced Nov. 1.

Managers and up to six coaches from each of the 30 teams vote on the best defenders at each position, although they can't vote for players on their club. That accounts for 75% of the vote, with SABR's defensive index making up the remaining 25%.

France, who won his first Gold Glove last year as an AL first baseman as he played for the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays, played 127 games at first, starting 116 times. He made just three errors in 951 chances at first, but was also responsible for saving other Padres infielders from errors with throws in the dirt or otherwise off-target. He was involved in 75 double plays. That resulted in a .994 fielding percentage. The other two top vote-getters at first base in the NL are Matt Olson of Atlanta and TJ Rumfield of the Colorado Rockies. Olson won last year's NL Gold Glove at first.

Fermin was behind the plate for 94 games, including 74 starts. He committed only seven errors in 684 chances for a .990 fielding percentage. Fermin threw out a nice 30.4% (24 of 79) of would-be base stealers (league average is 23.3%). Also in the top three in the NL at catcher are Gabriel Moreno of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Luis Torrens of the New York Mets. Moreno won the award in 2023, with Patrick Bailey, then of the San Francisco Giants, taking it the last two years.

The Padres finished with the second-best fielding percentage in MLB at .989, only behind the Chicago Cubs, who had five Gold Glove candidates in the top three at their positions and had a .990 fielding percentage.

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