PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s a small club, mainly because the award has only been around for three years. Pirates Jared Triolo reacting to winning the National League Gold Glove for a utility player this season.
"I think it's awesome that they added this award to the mix of it because it's a lot of different positions,” Triolo said Monday. “There's a lot of work that goes into being prepared to play a different spot every day. It's really cool that they added that in."
The other overall utility winners
· Brendan Donovan-St. Louis (2022)
· DJ LeMahieu-New York Yankees (2022)
· Ha-seong Kim-San Diego (2023)
· Mauricio Dubon-Houston (2023)
· Dylan Moore-Seattle (2024)
Isiah Kiner-Falefa won a Gold Glove at third base in 2020 with the Rangers. Now more of a utility player, he is someone Triolo really leaned on after the Pirates acquired him at the trade deadline.
"Even just knowing my teammate now, IKF, and how he's kind of done that the past couple years, talking with him and his mindset of how he goes about it,” Triolo said. “It's definitely an interesting challenge and a different one, but a good one nonetheless."
Knowing he was in a mix with Nick Gonzales, Liover Peguero and Ji Hwan Bae at second base in spring training he talked to a ‘whole bunch of guys’ to help him learn that position. Even former Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson helped him work through some issues.
"I'm a guy who likes to take a lot of ground balls and feel comfortable, and that's just the way I feel comfortable is getting a bunch of reps,” Triolo said. “And I mean, (bench coach) Don Kelly was out there every single day with me. Mendy Lopez. Alex Jimenez. I mean, there's just guys -- even on day games too, at the end of the season, when I'm trying to switch over to third base or second base or whatever, doubling up my work. There's a lot of guys to thank for that."
He won a minor league Gold Glove and he said it’s awesome to have accomplished that at the MLB level, especially playing different positions. It gives him more confidence going forward knowing he can play all of those positions at a high level.
He said the first couple of congratulatory texts he got were from former winners and current teammates-IKF and Ke’Bryan Hayes (last year).
"It's awesome,” Triolo said. “I watched the show last night with my family and a couple friends, and just getting to be around them and see their excitement in it, too, is really rewarding for me."
Triolo doesn’t know what this means for him going forward with the Pirates.
"I'm gonna get my work everywhere and just kind of see where the cards get dealt,” Triolo said. “And, hopefully it's not with a catcher's glove."
Yet somehow, he’d be great at that too.