Red Sox outfielders Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela were as good as gold in 2025.

This is Abreu’s second consecutive Gold Glove win, and the first of Rafaela’s career. It is also the first Red Sox season with multiple Gold Glover since 2018, when Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Ian Kinsler brought home a trio.

Rookie catcher Carlos Narváez was a finalist this year as well, but the defensive accolade went instead to Detroit’s Dillon Dingler when the winners were announced on ESPN Sunday night.

Abreu, 26, is the first Red Sox player to win consecutive Gold Gloves since Betts, who also manned right field during Boston tenure. Taking home the gold last season made Abreu not only the first Red Sox winner since Betts in ‘19, but the club’s first rookie winner since Fred Lynn in ‘75.

Even though an August calf injury that cost him over a month of games and prevented him from ‘Qualified Player’ status, Abreu’s 15 DRS ranked second among all AL right fielders with 800 or more defensive innings. He finished in the 90th MLB percentile in FRV, 94th in OAA, and 97th in arm strength.

Leading all qualified AL center fielders with 20 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) – no other player reached 10 – made Rafaela, 25, a shoo-in for his first career Gold Glove and Fielding Bible Award, which he won on Oct. 23.

Yet to truly grasp Rafaela’s defensive dominance, one must zoom out and look at the broader defensive landscape. His 21 Outs Above Average (OAA) outranked all AL outfielders, second overall only to Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong (24). Rafaela ranked in the 97th MLB percentile in arm strength and 99th in FRV and OAA. His plus-22 fielding run value ranked second in all of MLB to Giants catcher Patrick Bailey (plus-31); no other AL outfielder even played to a FRV higher than 12 (Guardians’ Steven Kwan).

Rafaela might have won his first Gold Glove last year as a super-utility player, if not for some struggles in the infield; in ‘24 he became the first major leaguer since the modern era began in 1901 to start at least 60 games apiece at shortstop and center in the same season.

Rafaela is the seventh center fielder in franchise history to bring home the gold, and the first since Bradley Jr. in 2018. Signed to an eight-year, $50 million extension through 2031 with a club option for ‘32, Rafaela has plenty of time to become the second Red Sox center fielder to win multiple Gold Gloves; Lynn earned four between 1975-80.

Speaking of Bailey, he was the only catcher with more DRS (19) than the rookie behind the dish for the Red Sox (10). Narváez put himself in the 85th MLB percentile in framing, 88th in Blocks Above Average, 95th in FRV, and 98th in Caught Stealing Above Average. Though Dingler and fellow finalist Alejandro Kirk (Blue Jays) caught more innings, Narváez tied Guardians’ Bo Naylor for the MLB lead in catcher assists (58).

Jason Varitek remains the last Red Sox catcher to win a Gold Glove, in ‘05.

Since the award’s inception in 1957, 25 Red Sox players have won a combined 52 Gold Gloves. This is the fifth time multiple Red Sox outfielders have won in the same season.

Votes from each club’s manager and up to six coaches, none of whom may vote for players on their own team, comprise approximately 75 percent of the decision, and the SABR Defensive Index (SDI) has made up the remaining 25 percent since 2013. In the most recent rankings published on Aug. 10, Abreu’s 11.4 SDI surpassed all other American League fielders by a significant margin; Rafaela came in second with 10.1, and Narváez slotted in sixth (7.9).