As he heads closer to opting out of his current contract and entering the free agent market, Xander Bogaerts Thursday earned another honor to his portfolio.
Bogaerts was named one of three finalists for the American League Gold Glove award at shortstop. Bogaerts has never won the award before, but was nominated as a finalist in 2015.
The other A.L. nominees are Carlos Correa of the Minnesota Twins and rookie Jeremy Pena of the Houston Astros, who replaced Correa.
Bogaerts made it his mission to improve defensively this past season, changing his pre-pitch setup to improve first-step quickness while working on expanding his range at the position.
He was charged with just 10 errors in 146 games. He was credited with four defensive runs saved above average by Defensive Info Solutions. That marked the first time in his career that Bogaerts had finished with a positive number in that category.
Meanwhile, Statcast had Bogaerts credited with five outs above average.
Bogaerts was the only current member of the Red Sox to be nominated for a 2022 Gold Glove. Jackie Bradley Jr., who won a Gold Glove in 2018 in center field, was nominated as a finalist in right field. Bradley spent the first two-thirds of the season with the Red Sox before being designated for assignment in the first week of August. He soon signed with the Toronto Blue Jays and finished the year with them.
It was thought that Trevor Story, who had six defensive runs saved as determined by Baseball Info Solutions while finishing with 10 outs above average, might be a finalist at second base. But Story's case was hurt by two separate injuries, limiting him to just 94 games.
Voting is conducted of major league managers and coaches, none of whom are allowed to vote for players on their own teams.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony in New York on Nov. 1.
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Triston Casas, who's playing winter ball for the Licey Tigers in the Dominican Winter League, suffered a minor injury to one of his knees earlier in the week. Casas left in the middle of a game with some "minor knee discomfort,'' according to the Tigers, but an MRI revealed no structural damage.
A Red Sox source echoed that diagnosis, adding that the Sox had no serious concern about the setback.
Licey said Casas could return to action as soon as Friday. The Red Sox have third base coach and infield instructor Carlos Febles serving as a bench coach for the Tigers, providing them with a representative to monitor Casas' progress.
Ironically, the Red Sox have Casas playing winter ball because he missed almost two months of his minor league season with an injury of another kind -- a high ankle sprain.
Casas has lost out at-bats in each of the last two seasons. In 2021, he played for Team USA in the Olympics and missed at-bats at Double A while he played in some qualifying games. Then, this year, with the ankle sprain, he had just 278 at-bats for Triple A Worcester before earning a September call-up with the parent club, for whom he hit five homers and compiled a .766 OPS.
Casas is considered the team's first baseman of the future.