Central STL News

The Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association has announced the winners of the 2025 Heart and Hustle Award, which recognizes active players who "exemplify a true passion for the game and who best embody the values, spirit, and tradition of the game." The award is unique as it is the only one voted on by former players. Each team's winner is selected by a committee of alumni, and an overall winner will be chosen from among these by a combination of alumni and fan votes.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Heart and Hustle Award. Past league-wide recipients include 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), Paul Goldschmidt (2022), Marcus Semien (2023) and Bobby Witt Jr. (2024). The award was not presented in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

For the St. Louis Cardinals, Brendan Donovan has been named as this year's Heart and Hustle Award recipient.

The full list of team winners includes Brent Rooker for the Athletics, Jackson Holliday for the Baltimore Orioles, Jarren Duran for the Boston Red Sox, Michael A. Taylor for the Chicago White Sox, José Ramírez for the Cleveland Guardians, Zach McKinstry for the Detroit Tigers, Jeremy Peña for the Houston Astros, Bobby Witt Jr. for the Kansas City Royals, Zach Neto for the Los Angeles Angels, Byron Buxton for the Minnesota Twins, Paul Goldschmidt for the New York Yankees, Cal Raleigh for the Seattle Mariners, Jake Mangum for Tampa Bay Rays, Marcus Semien for Texas Rangers and Ernie Clement for Toronto Blue Jays in the American League.

National League team winners are Geraldo Perdomo of Arizona Diamondbacks; Matt Olson of Atlanta Braves; Nico Hoerner of Chicago Cubs; TJ Friedl of Cincinnati Reds; Hunter Goodman of Colorado Rockies; Andy Pages of Los Angeles Dodgers; Kyle Stowers of Miami Marlins; Sal Frelick of Milwaukee Brewers; Pete Alonso of New York Mets; Kyle Schwarber of Philadelphia Phillies; Tommy Pham of Pittsburgh Pirates; Luis Arraez of San Diego Padres; Matt Chapman of San Francisco Giants; Brendan Donovan of St. Louis Cardinals; and Jacob Young of Washington Nationals.

"This will be the 20th year of the award, which is presented to the active players who 'exemplify a true passion for the game and who best embody the values, spirit, and tradition of the game.' It's also the only award voted on by former players, as each team's winner is chosen by a committee of alumni. The overall winner will be chosen from the pool of team winners by a combination of alumni and fan votes."