A few seasons ago, it appeared that there wasn’t going to be any room for Jacob Stalling on the Pirates roster, but now the 31-year-old is a Gold Glove winner.
The Rawlings Gold Glove Awards were announced on Sunday night, with Stalling getting the nod at catcher. It’s the first time he’s won the award in his career and the first Pirates catcher to do so since Mike LaValliere won it in 1987.
Stalling lead all catchers with 21 defensive runs saved and had a 95.5 percent pitch block rate.
He also went 892 innings without a allowed a passed ball, “the only catcher in the Majors without a passed ball among those with at least 500 innings caught,” the Pirates pointed out in a release.
Only three Pirates catchers have won the award since the Gold Glove was introduced in 1957.
Tony Pena won’t three straight Gold Gloves with the Bucs between 1983-1985.
Centerfielder Bryan Reynolds and short stop Kevin Newman were also finalists but did not win.