Ezequiel Durán Wins the Gold Glove No Ranger Had Ever Won: the Utility Award, After Starting at Seven Positions
They call him 'The Solution' because he plays everywhere. On Sunday night Rawlings made it official — 153 games, seven positions, 17 outs above average, and a first Gold Glove.
Ezequiel Durán's job description has never fit on one line of a lineup card, and on Sunday night it won him the award built for exactly that. The Texas Rangers infielder and outfielder was selected as the winner of the 2026 Rawlings Gold Glove Award at the utility position in the American League, announced by Rawlings in a televised show on ESPN. He is the first Ranger ever to win the utility Gold Glove — the position was only created in 2022 — and the 19th different player in franchise history to win a Gold Glove at any position.
The season behind the award is the argument for the category itself. Durán, 27, split a career-high 153 games among seven defensive assignments: 57 games at third base, 53 at shortstop, 37 at second base, 21 in left field, 18 in center, 14 in right and three at first base. FOX 4 reports he was the only major-league player this season to start and finish a game at every position excluding pitcher and catcher — the versatility that earned him the fans' nickname, 'The Solution.' The defense traveled with the glove: his 17 outs above average tied for the sixth-highest figure in the majors, and 11 of them came at shortstop, the fourth-most in the American League, despite his making just 49 starts there. The utility award is decided differently from the rest — by a defensive formula Rawlings built with the Society for American Baseball Research — and Durán beat fellow finalists José Caballero of the Yankees and Zach McKinstry of the Tigers. He had played all seven positions in a season once before, in 2024.
The rest of the Rangers' October finalists went home empty: right-hander Jacob deGrom, left fielder Wyatt Langford and center fielder Evan Carter each fell short in their categories. Durán's win keeps a franchise run going — five Rangers winners in the last four seasons, following Marcus Semien in 2025 and Adolis García, Nathaniel Lowe and Jonah Heim in 2023 — and Texas players have now claimed Gold Gloves at eight of the 10 positions Rawlings currently offers. Rawlings will honor Durán and the other winners at a ceremony in New York City on Friday, November 6. For a player whose value has always been that the answer to 'who can play there?' is his name, the trophy is the formal version of the nickname.
