CHICAGO – Alex Bregman arrived in Chicago with a stellar reputation as an elite hitter and an impactful leader behind the scenes. His new teammates knew he was solid as a defender at third base, but Bregman quickly started to open eyes with just how good he could be at the hot corner.

“Pretty early on,” Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said, “a lot of us were kind of turning our heads and kind of just being like, ‘Wow.’”

Both Crow-Armstrong and Bregman picked up a National League Gold Glove Award on Sunday. That gives Bregman a pair of Gold Gloves within the past three seasons – both coming after he turned 30 years old. That tidbit offers evidence of Bregman’s drive to keep finding ways to enhance his game, even a decade-plus into his Major League career.

“There’s always room for improvement in every phase of the game,” Bregman said Sunday. “And every year, I’m trying to get a little bit better in every aspect of it. For me, defensively, there were some things that I could tweak that could improve my defense. We had identified those in Spring Training and got to work on them.”

Bregman is quick to credit Cubs Major League coach Jonathan Mota, who works extensively with the infielders, for bringing some ideas to the veteran third baseman during the spring. While Bregman picked up an American League Gold Glove Award in 2024 with the Astros, some of his defensive metrics took a step back in ‘25 with the Red Sox.

Mota had three things he wanted Bregman to focus on for his first year with the Cubs:

• During Bregman’s pre-pitch move, Mota noted that the third baseman was moving down as the baseball was going through the hitting zone. The idea would be to have Bregman slightly adjust his timing to be moving up at that moment to improve first-step reaction.

• Mota also suggested that Bregman “hinge” more in his setup, which means having a little more forward lean in his stance.

• Mota also suggested having Bregman work more long-tossing into his throwing program to build up arm strength.

“One thing I like is being coached,” Bregman said. “Those three things right there made a huge difference. I felt like I was in a rhythm for the most part all year defensively. I felt like I was on time, and I was getting out of the box really good with the first step. I felt like I took a little while to get in rhythm, but then once I started doing it, it felt really good.”

The numbers back it up, too.

Per Statcast, Bregman posted +9 outs above average, which was way up from ‘25 (+3) and topped his career best of +8 (2022 and ‘24). His +7 fielding run value was also an upgrade from the previous year (+3) in Boston. Bregman turned in +15 defensive runs saved, which blew away his previous single-season high (+8 in ‘19).

Further under the hood, Bregman posted +6 outs above average on lateral plays toward first base. He was under water (-4) in that specific area in 2025 and had not been higher than +1 since ‘22 (+5). The third baseman also generated +5 OAA on plays moving in this year.

“The plays on the run are ridiculous,” Crow-Armstrong said. “And just kind of the creativity throwing the ball around the diamond was really fun to watch from him, like these cool open-side throws, and then obviously, we saw him bounce the ball to second base.

“I think he was the most deserving of this award this year by far. Again, it wasn’t so surprising seeing the defensive ability. But I think it was just something I maybe didn’t think about as much until I saw it on the field and in person.”