Alex Baeza Takes Home Utes First ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove
Jun 22, 2022, 11:56 AM
The Utah baseball team prepares to take on BYU in a fall exhibition on Oct. 15, 2021 at Smith’s Ballpark (Axe Tang/Utah Athletics)
(Axe Tang/Utah Athletics)
SALT LAKE CITY- Utah baseball’s promising season may not have quite ended the way they would have liked it to, but things are still trending up for the Utes. First baseman Alex Baeza took home the Utes’ first ABACA/Rawlings Gold Glove award Wednesday afternoon, becoming the first player in program history to earn the national honor.
For the first time at Utah…𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍
Congrats to @ABCA1945 / @RawlingsSports Gold Glove-winning first baseman @abaeza43!
📰 https://t.co/47gcUQZOxr#GoUtes pic.twitter.com/6WpXADXQvp
— Utah Baseball (@utahbaseball) June 22, 2022
About The Gold Glove
Established in 2007, the Gold Glove award recognizes the top defensive players in college baseball in every division. The award has been given out every year since its inception with the exception of the 2020 Covid-19 year.
Alex Baeza
Baeza is a local product for the Utes having grown up in West Jordan, Utah. Taking his graduate season to come home, Baeza transferred for one season to play with the Utes after starting his career at Hawaii.
The talented first basemen started all 54 games (53 at first base) for Utah in the 2022 season. It didn’t take long for Baeza to put the Pac-12 on notice that he was one of the top players in the conference at the position and made the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team to end the year.
Your 2022 NCAA Division I @ABCA1945
/ Rawlings Gold Glove Award Winner: First Base – Alex Baeza #RawlingsGoldGloveAward pic.twitter.com/epWxwq1VUT— Rawlings Baseball (@RawlingsSports) June 22, 2022
Known for his hustle, Baeza only was assessed one error in 505 chances, earning him a .998 fielding percentage. In Pac-12 play Baeza was perfect on his 271 chances putting him fourth in the conference. His efforts also helped the Utes to and overall 14 pickoffs in the 2022 season.
Baeza was solid on the plate for Utah as well leading the Utes with 17 doubles while putting himself in 11th place conference-wide. Recording a .278 batting average put Baeza fifth on the team. Baeza’s batting average included four home runs and an RBI of 41.
Baeza took the the Gold Glove home for first base over Brodey Heaton of Belmont and Ryan Hernandez of Houston who were the other two finalists named on Monday.
