Jared Triolo was named the National League Gold Glove winner at the utility position for the 2024 season. The Pittsburgh Pirates utility infielder showed off his versatility, with elite defense at second and third for extended periods, along with work at shortstop, first base, and two innings in right field.
Triolo entered the season in a competition for the starting second base job in Pittsburgh, which he won out of Spring Training. After a little over a month, his defense at second stood out as a positive, but his offense was struggling. Nick Gonzales was hitting in Triple-A, and the Pirates replaced Triolo with Gonzales at second. Triolo remained in the Majors for his versatility off the bench.
There would be more time for Triolo at second base throughout the year, spending 374.2 innings at the position across 47 games. Among 22 NL fielders with 300+ innings at the position, Triolo ranked high across the board:
- JARED TRIOLO IN 374.2 INNINGS AT SECOND BASE
- 1st in Ultimate Zone Rating/150 Games (7.7, Triolo ranked 4th in accumulated UZR; Gonzales ranked first with twice as many innings)
- 5th in Defensive Runs Saved (+6, Six players ahead of him had 850+ innings)
- 6th in Plus/Minus (+4, All five ahead of him had 850+ innings)
- His .995 fielding percentage was tied with two other players for the best mark.
It didn’t take long for Triolo to get regular playing time at other positions. One day after Gonzales arrived, the Pirates placed last year’s Gold Glove winning third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes on the injured list. Triolo spent most of the month of May as the starting third baseman, then returned to the spot for the final six weeks of the season when Hayes returned to the injured list.
Triolo was a Gold Glove winning third baseman in the minors, and it was a luxury for the Pirates to have him there for 527 innings while their other Gold Glove defender was down. Triolo provided positive defensive value among 24 NL third baseman with 300+ innings, and in some cases was close to the level of Hayes:
- JARED TRIOLO IN 527 INNINGS AT THIRD BASE
- 4th in UZR/150 (6.5, Hayes was second at 10.6; Triolo’s 1.6 UZR ranked 9th)
- 10th in DRS (+2, Two players ahead of Triolo had fewer innings, four had over 1000)
- 10th in PM (+3, Two players ahead had fewer innings, five had over 1000)
- His .985 fielding percentage ranked first overall, with Hayes finishing third.
There were a handful of games that Triolo started at the shortstop position from mid-June to mid-July, about two months before the Pirates replaced their starter, Oneil Cruz, for defensive reasons. In total, Triolo got 66 innings at the shortstop position. He didn’t commit an error, and ranked third in UZR/150 among 39 NL shortstops with 60+ innings. That put him right behind eventual replacement Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who was acquired at the trade deadline, two weeks after Triolo stopped playing short.
Triolo spent a week at the end of the season as the starting first baseman, after the Pirates released Rowdy Tellez, who needed four plate appearances to trigger a performance bonus. Triolo didn’t grade well at the position, finishing 30th in UZR/150 out of 45 NL first basemen with 40+ innings.
While most of his work was in the infield, Triolo spent two innings in right field on June 28th. Those two innings led to me writing a column about what makes Triolo a great defender, anywhere he plays. Unfortunately, my theory on Triolo also coincides with his weakness at the plate.
Triolo’s offense was poor, with a .216/.296/.315 line in 446 plate appearances. However, he provided elite defense to stabilize two positions for long periods of time, while contributing at a few other spots throughout the year. There’s value to being able to provide defense at multiple positions in the same season, on-call, even if the offense didn’t match that reliable level of production.
That value is honored in the utility Gold Glove award, with Triolo becoming the third ever recipient.
