Nationals' Jacob Young, Two Others Named Finalists for Gold Glove Award
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One thing that stood out for the Washington Nationals this season was their deep outfield unit.
While they already knew James Wood was a potential future star, the emergence of Daylen Lile at the plate gave them another high-octane bat in the lineup. Despite Dylan Crews not quite living up to his hype on offense, he was solid on defense and still has a bright future. And with Jacob Young and Robert Hassell III playing meaningful games, that gave the Nationals five young guys to utilize.
How each player fits into the puzzle going forward will be interesting to monitor since they all have their clear strengths and weaknesses. With the new front office regime taking over, different evaluations will take place that could cause a few of these guys to become expendable.
But when it comes to Young and what he does well, it's clear that he is one of the premier defenders in Major League Baseball, a strength that should have him playing in the bigs for a while whether that's with the Nationals or not.
And that elite aspect of his game has him as a finalist for a Gold Glove in center field this season.
good as pic.twitter.com/2Swok0JVCh
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) October 15, 2025
While Young might not provide much at the plate with a career slash line of .247/.310/.316 and an OPS+ that's 22 points below the league average mark of 100, he makes up for it with his ability to play defense.
Since debuting in 2022, he has been worth an absurd 38 outs above average. He also has a fielding run value of 36 and has a defensive runs saved figure of 25. With those numbers, it's hard to believe he's going for his first Gold Glove win, but there's a chance he could finally take home the coveted award this year.
Despite not quite being as stout as he was last season when it comes to advanced defensive metrics, he was still was worth 14 outs above average with a fielding run value of 15. He also had 13 defensive runs saved and didn't commit an error in center this year.
Jacob Young Is Finalist Alongside Pete Crow-Armstrong, Victor Scott II
If Young is going to take home his first Gold Glove, he'll have to beat out the NL Central duo of Pete Crow-Armstrong from the Chicago Cubs and Victor Scott II from the St. Louis Cardinals.
Both players have reputations as being incredible defenders, but Crow-Armstrong put together much more highlight-worthy defensive plays than Scott. However, perhaps nobody had more "Web Gems" than Young, who had some insane home run robberies and plays this season.
This will be an interesting race to follow, and it's one that could happen for multiple years going forward since this trio -- especially Young and Crow-Armstrong -- are some of the best defenders in the sport, let alone at their positions.
