3 Chicago White Sox that can win a Gold Glove in 2023

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Last week, Major League Baseball announced the nominees for the Gold Glove Award at each position in both the National League and American League. The Chicago White Sox had exactly zero nominees. That is not a good look.

To be honest, they don’t deserve any nominees. They were one of the worst defensive teams in the league so this isn’t much of a surprise to anyone who follows this team or the league closely.

There are plenty of players on this White Sox team, however, that are more than capable of at least being nominated for a Gold Glove. Everyone underperformed offensively which stole the headlines this year but their gloves need to be better too.

In 2023, you can bet that there will be an emphasis on this stuff. They can’t continue to give up outs because of mistakes defensively. These are the three players that might be able to help the White Sox get out of this defensive slump by getting nominated for a Gold Glove in 2023:

1. Luis Robert

Luis Robert has a chance to be an elite defender again for the Chicago White Sox.

A new manager is going to do wonders for Luis Robert. We are going to see him show up in 2023 both healthy and motivated. His wrist was injured at the end of the 2022 season and the team did a horrible job handling it.

He makes his money with his bat because he has proven at a young age that he can be an elite hitter but he needs to get back to that level when he is healthy. However, he is one of the few White Sox players to actually have a Gold Glove win under his belt.

We all know that Robert can be an elite defensive player in centerfield and that can lead to him being a nominee for a Gold Glove once again. Health is going to be a major key.

2. Yoan Moncada

The Chicago White Sox needs Yoan Moncada to have a huge 2023 in every way.

The Chicago White Sox didn’t see much of anything offensively from Yoan Moncada in 2022. He was one of the worst hitters in the American League all season long. He was somewhat hurt for a large portion of the year but that doesn’t excuse him from how bad he was with his bat.

He was also very good with his glove at third base. His WAR was 1.0 which tells you how good he was defensive because he was, as mentioned before, literally one of the worst hitters in the league. The glove brought his WAR up that much.

If he is healthy in 2023, he might be able to get a Gold Glove nomination. If he could figure things out with his bat, he’d be an MVP candidate because of how good he is at third. It isn’t enough to excuse him for how he hit in 2022 but he can use that to build on.

Third base is very deep in both the AL and NL so it is hard. However, if he can play in the majority of the games played next year, he is one of the few White Sox players that can field his position at an elite level. It would be nice to see him elevate that part of his game even more.

3. Andrew Vaughn

Andrew Vaughn could take a huge step defensively at first base in 2023.

Andrew Vaughn’s career has been crazy. He was the third overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft. Since then, he had a very unusual path to the big leagues for a variety of reasons. Although it couldn’t have been easy, he made it work without ever complaining.

It wasn’t a lock that he made the roster going into the 2021 season. Eloy Jimenez got hurt and they forced him to play left field. He wasn’t very good at it but he made it work in order to get them through this injury to Jimenez. With his bat, he has been growing each year.

his defensive numbers in the outfield haven’t been good at all but he has been working on that craft as he is a team-first guy. Now, he might be able to play his natural position of first base going forward. With Jose Abreu potentially walking, this could be his opportunity to shine.

The fact that he was so committed to playing out of position, imagine his commitment to defense at a position that he always played before reaching the big leagues. This could be a huge improvement over his play in the outfield.

Of everyone on this list, Vaughn is the biggest longshot but there aren’t many better options. He has played first in the past and his ability to adapt to other positions (even though it wasn’t always great) speaks volumes about his work ethic.

That may help him transition back to his natural position. We can only hope that with Gold Glove nominations or not, this team improves on defense.

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