Patrick Bailey wants a monopoly.
Shortly after winning his first Gold Glove Award following the 2024 season, Bailey outlined his ambitions to Alex Burg. Bailey told Burg that one award wasn’t enough. Neither was two. Neither was five.
“The conversion was, ‘This isn’t about winning one, it’s about winning 10. It’s about being, when you finish, being one of the best defensive catchers ever,’” said Burg, the Giants’ catching coach over the last two seasons and a candidate for new manager Tony Vitello’s staff. “That’s what he wants. He wants to be not only the best defensive catchers, but he wants to be talked about with the greats. Your Yadi (Molinas), your Buster (Poseys), your Johnny Benches.
“He wants to be the best catcher ever, and he knows defense is the calling card right now. No matter how good he is, there’s always a next level to get to.”
In his third season, Bailey found that next level. He won his second Gold Glove on Sunday, bringing him a fifth of the way to that ambitious goal. He became the first Giants catcher to win the aware multiple time, and he’s also likely to win his first Platinum Glove, an award unveiled on Friday that no Giant has ever won.
Only seven catchers in major league history have won at least five Gold Gloves. Only Bench and fellow Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez have won 10. Following a historically impressive defensive season, one where he made significant strides blocking tough pitches, Bailey’s ambition may not be so outlandish.
“What I’m most impressed with is that he continued to push forward even after winning a Gold Glove in ‘24,” said president of baseball operations Buster Posey, who won a Gold Glove in 2016. “He didn’t rest on his laurels of that success. There’s an understanding that just because he did something well one year doesn’t mean it’s a given for the next year. He’s definitely becoming an even more well-rounded defensive catcher.”
“He cares a lot,” said Logan Webb, who won his first Gold Glove on Sunday. “He wants to be the best defender in baseball. He wants to be known as the guy who’s the best defender in baseball. He takes a lot of pride in that.”
Bailey solidified himself as the best defensive catcher in baseball in 2024 by posting a Fielding Run Value — an overall defensive metric — of +28, the highest mark in the majors and tied for the highest in a single season since 2018. It was already one of the best defensive seasons since Major League Baseball unveiled Statcast in 2015, but still, Bailey and Burg knew there was another level to reach.
“After he won last year, it was kind of like, ‘Look, man, you’re the best defender in the league. There’s also room to improve in different areas but maintaining what you really do well,’” Burg said.
In his third season, Bailey usurped an already historically great year with a Fielding Run Value of +31 in 2025. To reach that level, Bailey had to address his primary shortcoming as a defender.
Bailey has been an elite framer and thrower since he stepped on a major-league field. In his second season, Bailey was the best framer in the majors by a ludicrous margin and was tied for the best average pop time in the majors. For all that excellence, Bailey was below average at blocking pitches in the dirt.
As a rookie, Bailey was worth -9 Blocks Above Average over 94 games behind the plate, the seventh-worst mark in the majors. He made strides in his second season and was worth -1 Blocks Above Average. This past season, Bailey turned that weakness into a strength.
Following two seasons as a below-average blocker, Bailey finished his third season with +5 Blocks Above Average, making him one of the game’s better blockers. Bailey isn’t elite in this department — the Blue Jays’ Alejandro Kirk led the majors at + 21 — but it’s a considerable improvement from two years ago.
“With blocking, there’s some technique involved, but it’s really just a willingness and a want to do it,” Burg said. “You look at the best blockers in the world, they look like they want to block.”
That transformation was the product of Bailey making a tweak in his setup following a recommendation from Burg.
After watching the Cleveland Guardians’ Austin Hedges, another elite defensive catcher, Burg proposed at the end of spring training that Bailey try a right knee kick-stand, which involves leaning on the right knee and letting the left leg straighten out. The kick-stand would get Bailey closer to the ground, making it easier for him to snatch or block balls in the dirt.
Before the Giants left Scottsdale, Bailey tried out the technique. After just one game, Bailey was acclimated. Bailey reported some unfamiliar aches and pains, but all told, he felt great about the tweak.
“He just does things so fast,” Burg said. “The body awareness, the feel for what he has … the amount of changes he can make so quickly is incredible to work with.”
An improvement in blocking did not come at the expense of other parts of his game.
His +25 Catcher Framing Runs led the majors and were also the most in a single season since 2018. With his arm, Bailey threw out a career-high 27 runners attempting to steal, once again finishing the year in a three-way tie for the best pop time in the game. A second Gold Glove was a formality, and a first Platinum Glove appears to be an inevitability.
And for all the discussion about the automated ball-strike system, which will introduce two pitch challenges per game next season, Bailey isn’t concerned that technology will impact that part of his game.
“I don’t think it’s going to take away the value of framing,” Bailey said in September. “You still have to be able to get calls and keep strikes, strikes. At the end of the day, it’s going to be really valuable to know the zone.”
“I think he knows how good he is, and he knows it’s a real possibility that he could rattle off a bunch,” Posey said. “The exciting thing is he understands that there’s always going to be people on his tail pushing him.”
Added Webb: “I feel like he just keeps getting better. It’s fun to watch him do his work every day. He works hard at his craft.”
There was another subtle change that made this season possible: a bigger mitt.
After using a 34-inch mitt in 2024, Bailey played around with 35- and 36-inch mitts last offseason. The 36-incher was “irrationally big,” according to Berg, but the 35-inch model provided Bailey with a little more surface area without sacrificing his framing abilities. While some catchers might use a mitt for several seasons, Burg estimates that Bailey went through six different mitts this season because of his preference for a stiffer feel.
“He’s gotta be an anomaly with that,” Burg said.
For all of Bailey’s defensive excellence, his craftsmanship behind the plate was often overshadowed by the worst offensive season of his career.
Bailey was not without his moments. His inside-the-park walk-off home run against the Phillies will go down as one of the most epic regular-season moments in Oracle Park history, and his walk-off grand slam against the Dodgers kept the Giants’ postseason hopes alive.
Despite those clutch hits — Bailey also had a walk-off single in April — Bailey finished the season with career lows in batting average (.222), on-base percentage (.277) and slugging percentage (.325). By OPS+, he was 27 percent worse than a league-average hitter.
As poorly as the season went offensively, Bailey hit .288 with four homers and an .814 OPS in September. That offense combined with his elite defense made him the Giants’ most valuable player (by WAR) in the season’s final month. To Posey, if Bailey makes considerable strides offensively, “there’s an argument to be made he’s going to be one of the most valuable players in the game.”
The Giants will take all the offense they can get from Bailey, but they know the bulk of his value will derive from his work behind the plate. He’s definitely baseball’s best defensive catcher and arguably its best defender. Through three seasons, he owns two Gold Gloves.
Only eight more to go.
“He’s special,” Burg said. “When you look at how good he was last year, a lot of people would say there’s not much room for him to improve — and he got better in almost every category.”