Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs and Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros receive the 2026 Hank Aaron Awards

Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs and Yordan Alvarez of the Houston Astros have been named the recipients of the 2026 Hank Aaron Awards in their respective leagues, Major League Baseball announced tonight. The Hank Aaron Awards recognize the most outstanding offensive performers in each League, with the winners unveiled earlier this evening at the 2026 MLB Awards presented by MGM Rewards at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The awards were presented by Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred Jr., Harold Reynolds and Mrs. Billye Aaron, who was escorted by Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. and 2006 Hank Aaron Award winner Ryan Howard.

It marks the first time both players have received the distinguished honor. Crow-Armstrong became the fourth winner from the Cubs, joining inaugural winner Sammy Sosa (1999); Aramis Ramirez (2008); and Kris Bryant (2016). Alvarez joined his Astros teammate Jose Altuve (2017) as the only winners from Houston. With his honor, Alvarez is the 16th internationally born player to win the award, and the second Cuban born player, joining José Abreu in his AL MVP-winning 2020 season.

Crow-Armstrong hit .280 with 45 homers, 107 RBI, 31 doubles, eight triples, 83 walks, 119 runs scored, 41 stolen bases, a .372 on-base percentage, a .570 slugging percentage and a .942 OPS in 162 games for Chicago. Yordan matched Kyle Schwarber for the Major League lead in homers while also leading all qualified hitters in extra-base hits, total bases (357) and runs scored. Crow-Armstrong also ranked second in slugging and OPS behind only Alvarez, and ranked fourth in RBI. Alvarez hit .316 with 42 homers, 106 RBI, 34 doubles, a triple, 109 walks, 105 runs scored, a stolen base, a .432 on-base percentage, a .601 slugging percentage and a 1.033 OPS in 158 games with Houston. He led the Majors in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS and walks, while he ranked second to only Crow-Armstrong in extra-base hits (77) and total bases (341). In addition to receiving the American League Hank Aaron Award tonight, Alvarez also received the 2026 American League Comeback Player of the Year, the Rod Carew American League Batting Title, the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award and All-MLB First Team Designated Hitter honors.

The 24-year-old Crow-Armstrong became the seventh player in Baseball history with 40 home runs and 40 steals in a single season, joining Shohei Ohtani (54 HR/59 SB in 2024); Ronald Acuña Jr. (41 HR/73 SB in 2023); Alfonso Soriano (46 HR/41 SB in 2006); Alex Rodriguez (42 HR/46 SB in 1998); Barry Bonds (42 HR/40 SB in 1996); and Jose

Canseco (42 HR/40 SB in 1988). Of the group, Crow-Armstrong is the third-youngest to accomplish the feat, after only Rodriguez (age 22 season) and Canseco (age 23 season). His 45 home runs are the most by a player aged 24-or-younger in franchise history, surpassing Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, who had 44 homers in 1955 in his age-24 season. He became the seventh player to appear in 162 games for the Cubs in a single season, joining Hall of Famer Banks, Santo and Williams, as well as Starlin Castro, Juan Pierre and Sosa. The California native hit for the cycle on June 15th against Colorado, marking the first of four cycles in the Majors this season (also: Bryce Harper, Tristan Peters and JJ Bleday). It marked the 13th cycle in Cubs’ history and he became Chicago’s first player to hit for a reverse cycle (hitting a home run, triple, double and single in order). Additionally, he became the first Cubs player since Hall of Famer Andre Dawson on April 29, 1987 to complete a cycle within his first four plate appearances. After a game-tying sacrifice fly from Crow-Armstrong in the ninth inning, Chicago came back to win the game in walk-off fashion as he became the 22nd player since 1901 to hit for the cycle in a game that his Club won via a walk-off.

A two-time All-Star, “PCA” hit a leadoff home run and a walk-off blast on August 27th, becoming the sixth player in Major League history with a leadoff homer and a walk-off blast in the same game and the first since Chris Young on August 7, 2010. The feat has now been achieved seven times in Major League history after Randy Arozarena also had a leadoff and walk-off homer for Seattle on August 22nd. Both players hit a leadoff homer in their next game, becoming the first players of the group to hit a home run in their next game. Crow-Armstrong and Arozarena are two of 14 players since at least 1900 with a leadoff homer in the next team game after hitting a walk-off blast, with Crow-Armstrong becoming the first to achieve the feat since Altuve in June 2021. The two-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner was named National League Player of the Month for June and August, and was named the National League Player of the Week on June 7th and June 21st.

Alvarez, the 2019 AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year, became the third Astros hitter to win a batting title, joining his teammate Altuve (3x: 2014, 2016-17) and former teammate Yuli Gurriel (2021). Alvarez also became just the fourth player in franchise history (sixth season) to post totals of at least 40 homers, 100 RBI, 100 walks and 100 runs scored, joining Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell (1997, 1999, 2000), Lance Berkman (2002) and former teammate Alex Bregman (2019). Alvarez slugged his 200th career longball on July 10th and his 212 career home runs are sixth-most in franchise history, trailing Bagwell (449 HR); Berkman (326 HR); Hall of Famer Craig Biggio (291 HR); Altuve (267 HR); and Jim Wynn (223 HR). The Las Tunas, Cuba native, who is a finalist for Thursday’s AL Most Valuable Player Award from the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), now has five seasons of at least 30 home runs, matching José Abreu for the third-most 30-homer seasons by a Cuban-born player (trailing Rafael Palmeiro – 10 seasons of 30+ HR & Jose Canseco – 8 seasons of 30+ HR). Alvarez capped off a two-homer, six-RBI performance on July 4th with a two-run walk-off homer, becoming the first player in Baseball history with multiple walk-off home runs on Fourth of July (also: 2022).

The starting designated hitter for the American League at the 96th Midsummer Classic in Philadelphia tallied three hitting streaks of at least 10 games including a career-best 13-game streak from April 14th-28th followed by a 10-game streak from July 10th-24th before finishing off the season on a 12-game hitting streak between September 15th-27th. The 2022 World Series Champion was named the American League Player of the Month for March/April and July, and was named American League Player of the Week on April 5th, June 7th and July 5th.

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 Pujols; Ken Griffey Jr.; Chipper Jones; Pedro Martínez; John Smoltz; Johnny Bench; Craig Biggio; and Eddie Murray. Fans also had the opportunity to cast their vote on the winners of this distinguished award by voting from the list of finalists in each the American League and National League online.

Other 2026 finalists for the Hank Aaron Award in the National League included CJ Abrams (.261, 33 HR, 106 RBI, 30 2B, 4 3B, 57 BB, 93 R, 34 SB, .833 OPS) of the Washington Nationals; 2026 NLCS MVP Jake Bauers (.266, 26 HR, 86 RBI, 22 2B, 2 3B, 94 BB, 93 R, 11 SB, .873 OPS) of the World Series Champion Milwaukee Brewers; Elly De La Cruz (.283, 30 HR, 79 RBI, 30 2B, 5 3B, 72 BB, 99 R, 30 SB, .880 OPS) and rookie Sal Stewart (.263, 32 HR, 111 RBI, 25 2B, 63 BB, 87 R, 15 SB, .787 OPS) of the Cincinnati Reds; three-time Hank Aaron Award winner Shohei Ohtani (.275, 30 HR, 81 RBI, 26 2B, 4 3B, 81 BB, 89 R, 11 SB, .889 OPS of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Matt Olson (.251, 41 HR, 93 RBI, 34 2B, 64 BB, 99 R, 4 SB, .823 OPS) of the Atlanta Braves; Kyle Schwarber (.232, 45 HR, 97 RBI, 20 2B, 1 3B, 105 BB, 95 R, 3 SB, .857 OPS) of the Philadelphia Phillies; Fernando Tatis Jr. (.289, 25 HR, 93 RBI, 32 2B, 3 3B, 64 BB, 96 R, 38 SB, .828 OPS) of the San Diego Padres; and Jordan Walker of the St. Louis Cardinals (.269, 29 HR, 102 RBI, 33 2B, 50 BB, 97 R, 22 SB, .793 OPS).

Other 2026 finalists for the Hank Aaron Award in the American League included Pete Alonso of the Baltimore Orioles (.267, 43 HR, 113 RBI, 24 2B, 81 BB, 100 R, 5 SB, .885 OPS); Randy Arozarena (.281, 26 HR, 79 RBI, 34 2B, 2 3B, 68 BB, 113 R, 26 SB, .865 OPS) of the Seattle Mariners; Junior Caminero (.276, 42 HR, 101 RBI, 25 2B, 1 3B, 79 BB, 100 R, 3 SB, .884 OPS) and Yandy Díaz (.293, 22 HR, 85 RBI, 26 2B, 1 3B, 56 BB, 93 R, 3 SB, .805 OPS) of the American League Champion Tampa Bay Rays; Willson Contreras (.275, 27 HR, 81 RBI, 21 2B, 3 3B, 59 BB, 68 R, 3 SB, .902 OPS) of the Boston Red Sox; Riley Greene (.280, 21 HR, 75 RBI, 32 2B, 2 3B, 71 BB, 79 R, 3 SB, .844 OPS) of the Detroit Tigers; Ben Rice (.264, 41 HR, 97 RBI, 24 2B, 4 3B, 85 BB, 105 R, 3 SB, .897 OPS) of the New York Yankees; Miguel Vargas (.363, 33 HR, 31 2B, 1 3B, 101 BB, 106 R, 22 SB, .837 OPS) of the Chicago White Sox; and Bobby Witt Jr. (.281, 18 HR, 54 RBI, 33 2B, 1 3B, 67 BB, 94 R, 45 SB, .800 OPS) of the Kansas City Royals.

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. All-Time winners of the Hank Aaron Award include: