MLBPAA announces team winners of 16th annual Heart and Hustle Award
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, Jos¨¦ Ram¨ªrez
Detroit Tigers, Robbie Grossman
Houston Astros, Jos¨¦ Altuve
Kansas City Royals, Salvador P¨¦rez
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 B¨¢ez
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 Nikki@MLBPAA.com 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.