Xander Bogaerts named an American League Gold Glove award finalist

Not only was Xander Bogaerts the Boston Red Sox' offensive MVP in 2022, he also made tremendous strides defensively.

The 30-year-old shortstop was rewarded for his performance by being named an American League Gold Glove award finalist on Thursday. He joins Carlos Correa of the Minnesota Twins and Jeremy Pena, who replaced Correa at shortstop for the Houston Astros.

2022 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Finalists - Shortstop - AL: Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa, Jeremy Peña #RawlingsGoldGloveAwards pic.twitter.com/lyqNPcV2nz
— Rawlings Baseball (@RawlingsSports) October 20, 2022

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Bogaerts recently opened up about the work he put in to improve as a defender.

“I take a lot (of pride), man. I wanted to have a positive defensive season,” Bogaerts told NESN’s Tom Caron on the “TC & Company” podcast. “I would trade away a Silver Slugger for that. That’s how much I take pride in it. Sometimes defense don’t like me. I always say that. But I really like it. I like it, it doesn’t like me, so it’s a tough relationship we have. This year I’m thankful. The coaches they’ve put in a lot of work last year, especially the second half when we started doing some different drills before games that has helped me a lot.

“I’ve said it since last year, coming into this year, I was very optimistic and excited about the way I finished the second half last year defensively. I felt deep down that I was going to have a really good season defensively just based on how the second half finished last year.”

It's the second time in Bogaerts' MLB career that he has been named a Gold Glove award finalist. Correa won his first Gold Glove last year.