Hayes, Craig Selected as 2019 Rawlings Gold Glove Award® Winners

Hayes becomes second minor leaguer to win three consecutive Gold Glove Awards

By Cheyne Reiter

October 14, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS - Minor League Baseball and Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc., today announced the nine recipients of the 2019 Rawlings Gold Glove Award® for defensive excellence. The Indianapolis Indians had multiple winners, with first baseman Will Craig earning his first Gold Glove Award and third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes taking home

INDIANAPOLIS - Minor League Baseball and Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc., today announced the nine recipients of the 2019 Rawlings Gold Glove Award® for defensive excellence. The Indianapolis Indians had multiple winners, with first baseman Will Craig earning his first Gold Glove Award and third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes taking home his third straight Gold Glove honor.

Craig, 24, posted a career-best .999 fielding percentage after playing in 111 games (108 starts) at first base. His fielding percentage was tops among all minor and major league first basemen. He committed just one error and led the Tribe with a career-high 23 home runs, the most by a Tribe player since Graham Koonce hit 23 in 2005. He also paced the Tribe offense with 78 RBI, the highest single-season total for an Indy Indian since Brandon Moss drove in 96 runs in 2010.
Hayes, 22, recorded a .989 fielding percentage in 104 games (103 starts) for Indy and appeared in three games on a rehabilitation assignment with Short-Season A West Virginia, combining for three errors in 287 total chances. Like Craig, Hayes' fielding percentage was the highest mark among all minor and major league third basemen. Over the last three seasons, Hayes has committed only 17 errors in 331 games (872 total chances). Offensively, Hayes ripped a career-high 10 home runs for the Tribe.
Craig and Hayes are the eighth and ninth Tribe players to win a Rawlings Gold Glove Award® and the first set of Indy Indians teammates to win the award in the same season since first baseman John Harris and catcher Dave Van Gorder in 1983. Rawlings Gold Glove Awards® were first awarded in 1957.
Further, Craig is the third Tribe first baseman to win a Gold Glove, joining Harris and Edwin Espinal (2017). Hayes is the first Indy third baseman to win the award, and he joined Ramon Conde (1959-61) as the only minor leaguers to win a Gold Glove three straight seasons. Conde played for the Tribe from 1962-70.
2019 Rawlings Gold Glove Award® Winners
C - Jhonny Pereda (Tennessee - Cubs)
1B - Will Craig (Indianapolis - Pirates)
2B - Nick Madrigal (Winston-Salem, Birmingham, Charlotte - White Sox)
3B - Ke'Bryan Hayes (Indianapolis - Pirates)
SS - Donnie Walton (Arkansas - Mariners)
LF - Mark Contreras (Fort Myers, Pensacola - Twins)
CF - Víctor Víctor Mesa (Jupiter, Jacksonville - Marlins)
RF - Jesús Sánchez (Montgomery, Durham, New Orleans - Marlins)
P - Matthew Kent (Portland, Pawtucket - Red Sox)
Indianapolis Rawlings Gold Glove Award® Winners (all-time)
OF - Jim Koranda (1963)
P - Manly Johnston (1966)
OF - Tom Spencer (1975)
P - Shane Rawley (1977)
1B - John Harris (1983)
C - Dave Van Gorder (1983)
1B - Edwin Espinal (2017)
1B - Will Craig (2019)
3B - Ke'Bryan Hayes (2019)
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