OFFICIAL SOMERSET PATRIOTS PRESS RELEASE:
Bridgewater, New Jersey – Minor League Baseball and Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc. have announced that Somerset Patriots 2B Jesus Bastidas is among the nine recipients of the 2022 Rawlings Gold Glove Award for defensive excellence.
Bastidas had a .973 fielding percentage in 795 innings played over 92 games at second base. He handled 369 total chances, recorded 131 putouts, collected 228 assists and made just 10 errors. In addition, Bastidas was involved in 54 double plays at the position.
The 24-year-old also had a career year offensively in 2022 for Somerset to help lead the team to their first Eastern League Championship as a New York Yankees affiliate. Bastidas set new career highs in home runs (18), runs (56), RBIs (55), walks (38), total bases (169), hits (95) and doubles (18).
He was originally signed by the Yankees as an international free agent out of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, on July 2, 2015.
Bastidas becomes the first Patriots player to receive a Rawlings Gold Glove Award.
The winners at each position were selected from players in the 11 full-season Minor Leagues. Each player will receive his own Rawlings Gold Glove Award, modeled after the iconic award given to Major League Baseball’s top defensive players, during the 2023 season.
Bastidas led all Eastern League second basemen with a .973 fielding percentage in 795 innings played over 92 games, committing only 10 errors and helping turn 54 double plays at the position. pic.twitter.com/iyaK2Ew8ec
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) November 22, 2022