Colorado Springs, Colo.-- The Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association (MLBPAA) is pleased to announce the 30 preliminary winners of the 2021 Heart and Hustle Award. This esteemed award honors active players who demonstrate a passion for the game of baseball and best embody the values, spirit and traditions of the game. The Heart and Hustle Award is also the only award in Major League Baseball that is voted on by former players. Voting is conducted prior to All-Star break.

The MLBPAA formed 30 committees, comprised of Alumni players with established relationships to each team. One player from each Major League team is chosen by the committees based on their passion, desire and work ethic demonstrated both on and off the field. As the season draws to a close, all alumni and active players will vote to select the final winner from the 30 team winners. The previous overall winners are David Eckstein (2005), Craig Biggio (2006, 2007), Grady Sizemore (2008), Albert Pujols (2009), Roy Halladay (2010), Torii Hunter (2011), Mike Trout (2012), Dustin Pedroia (2013), Josh Harrison (2014), Anthony Rizzo (2015), Todd Frazier (2016), Brett Gardner (2017), Mookie Betts (2018) and Howie Kendrick (2019). No award was presented in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The overall winner will be announced mid-November on MLB Network.

The 30 individual team winners are as follows:

American League

Baltimore Orioles, Cedric Mullins

Boston Red Sox, Rafael Devers

Chicago White Sox, Tim Anderson

Cleveland Indians, José Ramírez

Detroit Tigers, Robbie Grossman

Houston Astros, José Altuve

Kansas City Royals, Salvador Pérez

Los Angeles Angels, David Fletcher

Minnesota Twins, Jorge Polanco

New York Yankees, Aaron Judge

Oakland Athletics, Matt Olson

Seattle Mariners, Mitch Haniger

Tampa Bay Rays, Joey Wendle

Texas Rangers, Isiah Kiner-Falefa

Toronto Blue Jays, Marcus Semien

National League

Arizona Diamondbacks, Eduardo Escobar

Atlanta Braves, Ozzie Albies

Chicago Cubs, Javier Báez

Cincinnati Reds, Nick Castellanos

Colorado Rockies, Ryan McMahon

Los Angeles Dodgers, Chris Taylor

Miami Marlins, Miguel Rojas

Milwaukee Brewers, Willy Adames

New York Mets, Kevin Pillar

Philadelphia Phillies, Ronald Torreyes

Pittsburgh Pirates, Adam Frazier

San Diego Padres, Jake Cronenworth

San Francisco Giants, Brandon Crawford

St. Louis Cardinals, Tommy Edman

Washington Nationals, Trea Turner

For more information regarding the Heart and Hustle Award, please contact Nikki Warner, Director of Communications, by e-mail at [email protected] or by calling (719) 477-1870, ext. 105.

To learn more about the MLBPAA, please visit www.baseballalumni.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@MLBPAA). The official hashtag for this award is #HeartandHustle.