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NEW YORK, October 26 – Aaron Judge was named overall Player of the Year and AL Outstanding Player, and Rhys Hoskins received his first career Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award as well as the Philanthropist of the Year award in balloting for the 2024 Players Choice Awards.
Since 1992, the Players Choice Awards have recognized outstanding on- and off-field performances and held special significance to Players because the winners are chosen by their peers. Voting among all Players was conducted in September by the accounting firm KPMG.
Along with Judge, American League Players voted Tarik Skubal as Outstanding Pitcher, Tyler O’Neill as Comeback Player and Colton Cowser as Outstanding Rookie. National League Players chose Shohei Ohtani as Outstanding Player, Chris Sale as both Outstanding Pitcher and Comeback Player, and Jackson Merrill as Outstanding Rookie.
Judge led the major leagues with 58 home runs and set career highs in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, doubles, RBIs, walks and total bases on the way to making his sixth career All-Star appearance with the Yankees. He joined Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Babe Ruth as one of only four players in major league history to hit at least 58 homers in multiple seasons.
Judge was joined as a Player of the Year finalist by Ohtani, the Dodgers’ record-setting designated hitter, and Royals star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.
Hall of Famer Dave Winfield is the 2024 recipient of the Curt Flood Award. The honor goes to “a former player, living or deceased, who in the image of Flood demonstrated a selfless, longtime devotion to the Players Association and advancement of players’ rights.”
2024 Marvin Miller Man of the Year
In balloting for Marvin Miller Man of the Year, players were asked to vote for the player “whose leadership most inspires others to higher levels of achievement.” Curtis Granderson, who retired after the 2019 season, won the award four times. Other recent honorees include Marcus Semien (2023 and 2021), Francisco Lindor (2022), and Nelson Cruz (2020).
The award, which comes with a $25,000 grant to the charity or cause of the winner’s choice, is dedicated to Marvin Miller, who served as the MLBPA’s first full-time executive director from 1966 through 1982 and guided its emergence as one of the country’s strongest and most cohesive labor unions.
After six seasons as a lineup and clubhouse pillar, community ambassador and fan favorite in Philadelphia, Rhys Hoskins made an immediate impact on and off the field in his new home in
Milwaukee. He assumed the role of Brewers’ player representative and immersed himself in the community with his wife, Jayme, through their involvement with the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Braves starter Max Fried, Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan and Twins starter Pablo López were also Marvin Miller Man of the Year finalists.
2024 Philanthropist of the Year Award
Rhys Hoskins is the winner of the Players Trust Philanthropist of the Year Award, which recognizes the community work of individual Players, celebrating their altruistic spirit and positive social impact beyond the diamond.
During Rhys’ playing career in Philadelphia and Milwaukee, he and his wife, Jayme, have raised over $1 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. This year, they hosted 100 families at a Brewers game and remained active in MDA summer camps and promoting awareness of the disease through public service announcements, social media campaigns and other events. The Players Trust will make a $25,000 contribution to the Muscular Dystrophy Association in honor of the Hoskins’ tireless work.
Along with Rhys Hoskins, this year’s Philanthropist of the Year award finalists were Yankees catcher Jose Trevino and Reds pitcher Brent Suter. Each finalist will receive a $5,000 grant to the charity of his choice from the Players Trust.
2024 Curt Flood Award
The Curt Flood Award commemorates Flood’s historic judicial fight against baseball’s reserve system, which paved the way for free agency in the 1970s. This year’s winner is Dave Winfield, whose impact as a clubhouse leader and advocate for player rights spanned his 22-year Hall of Fame career. Winfield immersed himself in the issues as a 21-year-old rookie outfielder with the Padres in 1973 and unfailingly supported the MLBPA through several collective bargaining negotiations and six work stoppages until his retirement in 1995.
"Anything you do in life, know where you've come from, where you are and where you're going, and Marvin was able to share that with us," Winfield said at Miller’s memorial service. "Know the history of the Players Association. Know how you got to where you are today."
Since 2013, Winfield has continued to dedicate his time, energy and passion to support current and future generations of players in his role as a senior advisor to MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark.
Below are the individual on-field award winners:
Aaron Judge – Player of the Year and AL Outstanding Player
Aaron Judge’s 34 home runs before the All-Star break set a new Yankees record for most homers in the first half of a season, after he tied Roger Maris's original first-half record of 33 in 2022. On August 14th Judge became the fastest player to 300 home runs in just his 955th game and 3,431st at-bat. Along with his 58 home runs, Judge led the league in RBIs with 144 and finished with a .701 slugging percentage and 1.159 OPS.
Shohei Ohtani – NL Outstanding Player
Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani broke new ground as an all-around offensive threat in 2024. With an epic 6- for-6, 10-RBI game against the Marlins in September, he became the first player in MLB history to record a 50-homer, 50-steal season. He surpassed Hideki Matsui for the most home runs ever by a Japanese player in the majors with his 176th career longball in April and topped the 200 mark against Detroit in June. Ohtani led the National League in runs (134), homers (54), RBIs (130), slugging (.646), OPS (1.036) and total bases (411).
Tarik Skubal – AL Outstanding Pitcher
Tarik Skubal built on his strong end to the 2023 season by breaking out as the best pitcher in the American League in 2024. He led the AL in wins (18), ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (228) to take home the AL Triple Crown. By the end of the season, Skubal had more than doubled his career bWAR from 5.0 to 11.4. He was a model of consistency, completing six innings or more in 25 of his 31 starts. Skubal’s excellent year, along with a 39-26 second half, led the Tigers to the postseason for the first time since 2014.
Chris Sale – NL Outstanding Pitcher and NL Comeback Player
Injuries limited Chris Sale to a total of 31 starts with Boston from 2021-2023, but he regained his dominant form with a return to full health in Atlanta. Sale notched the eighth 200-strikeout season of his 14-year career, tying Steve Carlton for the second most in history by a left-hander behind Randy Johnson. Sale established a career high with 18 victories and also led the league in ERA (2.38) and strikeouts (225) to become the first pitcher to capture an NL Triple Crown’ since Clayton Kershaw in 2011. He set a major league record by logging 18 consecutive starts with two or fewer earned runs allowed.
Colton Cowser – AL Outstanding Rookie
Colton Cowser began the year winning Rookie of the Month in April after slashing .303/.372/.632, with six home runs and 18 RBIs. His 17-game hitting streak from July 19 through August 4 tied for the longest by an Oriole rookie. During that stretch, he slashed .391/.452/.625 with four home runs and 15 RBIs. Cowser led all American League rookies in home runs with 24. He also hit 24 doubles, becoming the ninth Orioles rookie to record a 20+ home run and 20+ double season.
Jackson Merrill – NL Outstanding Rookie
Jackson Merrill, a first-round pick by San Diego in the 2021 MLB draft, made an instant impact at the plate, in the field and on the basepaths in his first year with the Padres. Merrill led all MLB rookies in RBIs (90), batting average (.292), home runs (24), OPS (.826) and fWAR (5.3). He also displayed a penchant for producing in the clutch with six game-tying or go-head home runs in the eighth inning or later. In July, Merrill became the first Padres rookie and the youngest San Diego player ever to be named to an All-Star team.
Tyler O’Neill – AL Comeback Player
Two injury-plagued seasons in 2022 and 2023 limited Tyler O’Neill to just 168 games total. After a trade from the Cardinals to the Red Sox, he looked to prove he was still the player that finished eighth in NL MVP voting in 2021. O’Neill did just that, beginning the season setting a new MLB record by hitting a home run in his fifth straight Opening Day. For the rest of the season, he was a constant presence in the heart of Boston’s lineup. O’Neill ended the season with 31 home runs, reaching 30+ home runs for the second time in his career (34 in 2021).
For more information on the 2024 Players Choice Awards, be sure to visit the link here.