Kyle Schwarber has been named the Philadelphia Phillies’ winner of the 2025 Heart and Hustle Award, according to an announcement from the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association (MLBPAA) on Tuesday.
The Heart and Hustle Award, now in its 20th year, 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 in that it is voted on by former players. Each team’s winner is selected by a committee of alumni. The overall league winner will be determined from among these team honorees through a combination of alumni and fan votes.
“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.”
Past recipients at the league level 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). No award was given in 2020 due to COVID-19 disruptions.
The MLBPAA stated that this season’s overall Heart and Hustle Award recipient will be revealed in mid-November on MLB Network.
Schwarber joins other team winners from across Major League Baseball. In addition to Schwarber representing Philadelphia, notable National League honorees include Pete Alonso for New York Mets and Matt Olson for Atlanta Braves. In the American League, Marcus Semien was recognized for Texas Rangers while Paul Goldschmidt received honors for New York Yankees.
