Grisham wins 2nd Gold Glove on his birthday

SAN DIEGO -- Trent Grisham is a two-time Gold Glove Award winner.

• All-time Gold Glove winners

The Padres center fielder -- known for his excellent jumps, his elite range and his ability to chase down balls few other outfielders can get to -- took home the 2022 Rawlings Gold Glove Award in the National League. In an announcement made Tuesday evening -- on Grisham’s 26th birthday, no less -- he beat out fellow finalists Victor Robles of the Nationals and Alek Thomas of the D-backs to claim the award.

Second baseman Jake Cronenworth, shortstop Ha-Seong Kim and right fielder Juan Soto were also finalists, but they were beaten out by the Rockies’ Brendan Rodgers, the Braves’ Dansby Swanson and the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts, respectively. Manny Machado, meanwhile, did not reach the final round, while Nolan Arenado claimed the NL Gold Glove Award at third base.

Grisham was always the likeliest Padre to take home a Gold Glove in 2022. He tied the D-backs’ Daulton Varsho for the lead in outs above average among all MLB outfielders with 17. Grisham reached that number with a handful of remarkable catches, but he also did so by making a sizeable number of very difficult plays seem routine.

Per Statcast, Grisham's "jump" -- or feet covered in the correct direction in the first three seconds after the ball hits the bat -- was 35.4 feet, ninth among outfielders with at least 50 opportunities. (None of those other candidates came close to Grisham's total opportunities.) His "reaction" -- evaluating only the first 1.5 seconds, per Statcast -- was tops in the National League.

"It's all encompassing," Grisham said last month of his ability to read the ball the off the bat. "The majority of it is that the more I've been out there, the more comfortable I am knowing where I need to go. ... But it's a mentality. Just like anything, you've got to have a certain mentality. And my mentality is to go get anything I can get to."

Grisham took home his first Gold Glove Award in 2020, easily his best season in the big leagues. He struggled offensively this year, but his defense almost never waned (save for a minor blip for about a week in mid-July in which he misread a couple line drives). But Grisham more than made up for those miscues, turning in one of the finest full defensive seasons for a Padre in recent memory.

In taking home his second Gold Glove, Grisham joins a select group of Padres outfielders to win the award multiple times. Tony Gwynn won five, while Steve Finley and Dave Winfield took home two apiece in San Diego.

"You watch him on a day-to-day basis, and there's no one better," manager Bob Melvin said last month. "The way he comes in on balls that are particularly challenging, and how he does it with ease. He goes back on balls, not afraid to take his eye off the ball, run to a spot. He's just a fantastic outfielder."

Then Melvin paused, unsure for a moment of a particular fact.

"Has he won Gold before?” Melvin asked, receiving a response in the affirmative. "OK. Well, regardless, he will be a multiple Gold Glove winner."

And it didn't take long for Melvin to be proven right.