MLBPAA announces team winners of 18th annual Heart and Hustle Award

A player from each MLB team wins respected honor

August 3rd, 2023

Colorado Springs, Colo. - The Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association (MLBPAA) is pleased to announce the 30 preliminary winners of the 2023 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 the 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), Howie Kendrick (2019), Ozzie Albies (2021) and Paul Goldschmidt (2022). No award was presented in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

The 30 individual team winners are as follows:

American League

Baltimore Orioles, Anthony Santander

Boston Red Sox, Justin Turner

Chicago White Sox, Andrew Benintendi

Cleveland Guardians, José Ramírez

Detroit Tigers, Matt Vierling

Houston Astros, Kyle Tucker

Kansas City Royals, Bobby Witt Jr.

Los Angeles Angels, Zach Neto

Minnesota Twins, Pablo López

New York Yankees, Isiah Kiner-Falefa

Oakland Athletics, Carlos Pérez

Seattle Mariners, J.P. Crawford

Tampa Bay Rays, Randy Arozarena

Texas Rangers, Marcus Semien

Toronto Blue Jays, Daulton Varsho

National League

Arizona Diamondbacks, Corbin Carroll

Atlanta Braves, Austin Riley

Chicago Cubs, Nico Hoerner

Cincinnati Reds, TJ Friedl

Colorado Rockies, Elias Díaz

Los Angeles Dodgers, Freddie Freeman

Miami Marlins, Luis Arraez

Milwaukee Brewers, Christian Yelich

New York Mets, Brandon Nimmo

Philadelphia Phillies, Garrett Stubbs

Pittsburgh Pirates, David Bednar

San Diego Padres, Ha-Seong Kim

San Francisco Giants, LaMonte Wade Jr.

St. Louis Cardinals, Brendan Donovan

Washington Nationals, Lane Thomas

For more information regarding the Heart and Hustle Award, please contact Kendall Meisner, Director of Communications, by e-mail at [email protected] or by calling (719) 477-1870, ext. 201.

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.