For the first time since 2010, the Minnesota Twins were represented with a Gold Glove winner at the MLB Awards Show. Actually, they had two: Byron Buxton and Brian Dozier.
Buxton won for his outstanding play in center field and Dozier took home the award at second base, becoming the first Twins players to win the award since Joe Mauer did so as a catcher in 2010. Dozier is also the first Twins middle infielder to win since Chuck Knoblauch in 1997.
Buxton had the second-highest defensive WAR (a stat to determine how valuable a player is) in all of baseball, and his 2.8 score was the highest for a Twins outfielder since Kirby Puckett had a 3.2 WAR in 1984, according to Fox Sports.
“This is a special moment, not just for me, but for my teammates, my family and the support system behind me to go out there every day and play the game that I love,” Buxton said, via TwinsBaseball.com. “I’m very blessed to win this award. It means a lot to me and is very dear to my heart. Defense is really important to me. This is my first one, so I’m going to take the best of it and keep going.”
