Major League Baseball announces the 2025 finalists for the prestigious Hank Aaron Award

By Jeff Thacker

 

Hank Aaron Award. By Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0, https commons.wikimedia.org

 

October 6th, 2025

 

MLB Legends and Past Recipients Including Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, and Albert Pujols Comprise Illustrious Voting Panel; Winners Unveiled During Special Presentation at the MLB Awards Show Presented by MGM Rewards on November 13th

Award namesake Hank Aaron with the Atlanta Braves in 1974. By Unknown author – Texas Rangers via tradingcarddb.com, Public Domain, https commons.wikimedia.org

Major League Baseball today announced finalists for the 2025 Hank Aaron Award, an honor that recognizes the most outstanding regular season offensive performer in each League. At this year’s All-Star Game, MLB celebrated the 51st anniversary of Hank Aaron’s historic 715th record-breaking home run with a special in-game presentation. This year marks the 26th anniversary of the Hank Aaron Award’s introduction, which was established to honor the momentous milestone.

The Hank Aaron Award winners will be announced live from The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Thursday, November 13 during a special presentation at the MLB Awards presented by MGM Rewards. Former Hank Aaron Award winners Shohei Ohtani (2023-24), Aaron Judge (2022, 2024), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (2021) and Christian Yelich (2018-19) are among this year’s finalists. A full list of this year’s finalists and rundown of all previous Hank Aaron Award winners can be found here.

A committee of MLB.com journalists reviewed the top offensive statistics, accomplishments, and performances of the regular season to determine the ten finalists for each league. MLB legends and past recipients of the prestigious award comprise the renowned panel that each cast votes for their choices for the honor. The distinguished group includes: 2006 and 2009 Hank Aaron Award winner Derek Jeter; 2005 and 2016 Hank Aaron Award winner David Ortiz; 2003 and 2009 Hank Aaron Award winner Albert PujolsKen Griffey Jr.Chipper JonesPedro MartínezJohn SmoltzJohnny BenchCraig BiggioEddie Murray; and Robin Yount.

The Hank Aaron Award was introduced in 1999 to honor the 25th Anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record, and, at that time, was the first major award introduced by Major League Baseball in more than 25 years.

 

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