On Thursday, we’ll announce the winners of The 2025 Fielding Bible Awards for defensive excellence. This will be the 20th annual announcement recognizing the best defensive players in baseball at each position, as well as the best team.

I thought it would be interesting to talk to two players who won Fielding Bible Awards for whom the Award might mean a little bit more: Brendan Ryan, who won as a shortstop for the Mariners in 2012, and Jeff Mathis, who won as a catcher for the Diamondbacks in 2018. Each won a Fielding Bible Award but did not win the more well-known Gold Glove Award.

Jeff Mathis winning The Fielding Bible Award in 2018 required a combination of things to happen unlike anything since we began giving the awards in 2006. One was that even though he caught only 63 games, he was great. Even with so few games caught, he was considerably better than everyone else in Defensive Runs Saved.

The other was that there was no clearcut other option. There were a bunch of good defensive catchers, but no one else separated himself from the rest. As such Mathis won a close vote in a crowded field over Mike Zunino of the Mariners and Austin Hedges of the Padres, two catchers who were well behind Mathis in Runs Saved.

This was not a ‘Rafael Palmeiro played 28 games and won a Gold Glove’ situation. Mathis may have caught just over 500 innings, but he led the Diamondbacks in innings caught.

He had the second-best totals in Runs Saved from both pitch blocking and pitch framing. I was one of five voters on the 12-voter panel that gave Mathis a first-place vote. The statistical support for his candidacy was too overwhelming to turn away from.

“That’s a pretty awesome award or accomplishment for anybody,” Mathis said, talking to us from his Florida home. “There are a lot of numbers that are flying around out there but this award really represents all the small things and attention to detail that goes into the defensive side.”

Mathis’ former manager with the Angels, Mike Scioscia, was integral in Mathis’ winning the award. Mathis credits a lot of his pitch blocking success to his time as a middle infielder in high school, but his pitch framing was well honed by Scioscia.

“The one thing that really sticks out in my mind is how he wanted us to give a low target early, down in the zone,” Mathis said. “He was really big on presentation for the pitcher, them knowing a target they have to throw to. I felt my strong suit was down in the zone, being able to beat the ball to the spot.”

Mathis also credited former coach Don Wakamatsu, former Marlins manager Mike Redmond, and teammate Mike Napoli as those who helped him leading up to his time with the Diamondbacks.

In that 2018 season Mathis caught every inning of Zack Greinke’s 33 starts and Greinke pitched to a stellar 3.21 ERA. He also caught 73 2/3 innings from Patrick Corbin in a season in which Corbin went from a decent pitcher to a very good one. His ERA with Mathis was 1.83, about two runs better than it was with Arizona’s other catchers.

“Working with Zack and how meticulous he was, and with Corb, we had a good plan,” Mathis said. “Those guys are super talented and it was a fun time.

Mathis was aware of The Fielding Bible Awards prior to winning it and winning it was a big deal to him. “I’m very proud of that,” he said. “Defense is the one thing that kept me going and around. It’s a proud possession. It’s not front and center in my man cave, but you can surely see it, I promise you that.”

The award was valuable from a financial perspective too. Mathis was able to sign a two-year contract with the Rangers that offseason despite being a 35-year-old with a .544 OPS. His salary went from $2 million to $3.25 million.

Mathis’ playing career ended in 2021 and he’s currently “living the retired life” and raising two daughters. He’s thought at times about getting into coaching, though he knows his more traditional approach to catching is different from the currently popular one-knee down style.

“ I miss all the intricacies behind the plate,” he said. “I think I have some stuff to offer if or when time comes and someone comes calling.”