Cal Raleigh, Brent Suter Take Top Honors in 2025 Players Choice Awards

NEW YORK, October 29 – Since 1992, the Players Choice Awards have honored outstanding on- and off-field performances, with winners chosen by their peers. Voting among all Players took place in September by the accounting firm KPMG.

This year, Cal Raleigh was named overall Player of the Year and AL Outstanding Player, and Brent Suter won the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award.

Along with Raleigh, American League Players voted Tarik Skubal as Outstanding Pitcher, Jacob deGrom as Comeback Player, and Nick Kurtz as Outstanding Rookie. National League Players selected Kyle Schwarber as Outstanding Player, Paul Skenes as Outstanding Pitcher, Ronald Acuña as Comeback Player, and Drake Baldwin as Outstanding Rookie. Raleigh was also joined as a Player of the Year finalist by Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers’ record-setting designated hitter and pitcher, as well as Yankees captain and star right fielder Aaron Judge.

Scott Sanderson and Don Baylor are the 2025 co-recipients 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.”

2025 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, has won the award four times. Other recent honorees include Rhys Hoskins (2024), Marcus Semien (2023 and 2021), and Francisco Lindor (2022).

The award 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.

Brent Suter has provided leadership and a steady, reliable voice in his role as an MLBPA Player representative. His all-around contributions have been highlighted time and again, with multiple nominations for the Roberto Clemente Award and a 2022 nomination for the Marvin Miller award. Suter has used his platform as an athlete to draw attention to the effects of climate change, the global crisis of plastic waste, and other environmental causes. While pitching for the Reds in his hometown of Cincinnati, Suter has been actively engaged in the community, working with youth organizations such as Sleep in Heavenly Peace, which helps local children in need.

Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt and Rays closer Pete Fairbanks were also Marvin Miller Man of the Year finalists.

2025 Philanthropist of the Year Award

Aaron Nola 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 the 2024 season, Nola donated $1,000 per strikeout to Team Red, White and Blue, contributing a total of $197,000 for his 197 Ks. Nola continues to support veterans through the Team Red, White and Blue, while also raising support for ALS research with Strike Out ALS bowling tournaments around the country. In 2025, the ALS Association of Washington, D.C., honored him with its annual Volunteer Impact Award.

Along with Nola, this year’s Philanthropist of the Year finalists were Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka and Royals starter Michael Wacha. The Players Trust also recognized White Sox outfielder Mike Tauchman, Giants pitcher Ryan Walker, and Tigers utility man Zach McKinstry as Most Valuable Philanthropists in 2025

2025 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 winners are Scott Sanderson and Don Baylor.

Sanderson is remembered by his contemporaries for his leadership during the Players’ historic, 232-day strike in 1994-95. At the most widely attended meeting, he stood up first and crystallized the Players’ mission: “I’d like a show of hands. Who among us wants to leave to the players who come after us less than what we received from the players who went before us?” Union leaders of the era consider it a seminal moment that injected new energy and clarity toward Players’ efforts to stop MLB’s attempt to break their union and implement a salary cap.

Baylor gained an appreciation for the Players Association’s mission as a young outfielder in the Baltimore Orioles’ clubhouse. He eventually ascended to the role of club representative and American League representative, providing valuable counsel to Executive Directors Marvin Miller and Donald Fehr from his seat on the Executive Subcommittee. Baylor played a pivotal leadership role through six strikes and lockouts over 19 seasons with the Orioles, Angels, Yankees and three other clubs.

Below are the individual on-field award winners:

Cal Raleigh – Player of the Year and AL Outstanding Player

It was a record-setting season for Cal Raleigh, who rewrote the history books with his unprecedented power surge. Raleigh hit the most home runs in a single season by a Seattle Mariner, by a switch-hitter and by a catcher, while becoming the first Player to homer 20 or more times from both sides of the plate and winning the All-Star Game Home Run Derby. The North Carolina native led the league in homers and RBIs to go along with a stellar .948 OPS and elite defense behind the plate.

Kyle Schwarber – NL Outstanding Player

In his fourth season with the Philadelphia Phillies, Kyle Schwarber led the National League with 56 home runs and 132 RBIs while setting career highs in OPS, hits and WAR. Schwarber’s 23 homers off left-handed pitching set a major league record for a lefty hitter, surpassing the previous mark shared by Stan Musial and Matt Olson. He registered the second 50-homer season in Phillies’ history and finished two shy of Ryan Howard’s franchise record of 58 in 2006.

Tarik Skubal – AL Outstanding Pitcher

Tarik Skubal posted dominant numbers on the way to another superb season atop the Detroit Tigers’ rotation. He won his second straight ERA title (2.21) and led American League pitchers with a 6.6 WAR while posting a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 241-33. Skubal earned his second straight All-Star berth and first All-Star start, while becoming the first pitcher in the majors to reach 200 strikeouts.  

Paul Skenes – NL Outstanding Pitcher

Paul Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB draft out of Louisiana State University, followed up on his outstanding rookie year in Pittsburgh with another dominant season as the Pirates’ ace. Skenes led the National League with a 1.97 ERA – his second straight season with a sub-2.00 mark – while striking out 216 batters in 187 2/3 innings.  In July, he became the first Pirate to earn starting pitcher honors in the All-Star Game since Jerry Reuss in 1975.

Nick Kurtz – AL Outstanding Rookie

Nick Kurtz, a 2024 first round selection out of Wake Forest University, emerged as a power-hitting force in the A’s lineup this season. Kurtz led all MLB rookies in home runs (36), RBIs (86), OPS (1.002) and WAR (5.4). His OPS led MLB first basemen, and he ranked second at the position to Matt Olson in WAR and to Pete Alonso in home runs. Kurtz posted one of the greatest offensive displays in baseball history on July 25, when he went 6-for-6 with four home runs in a 15-3 win over the Astros.

Drake Baldwin – NL Outstanding Rookie

Drake Baldwin, a 2022 draftee out of Missouri State University, had a major impact in his debut season with the Braves. Among National League rookies with a minimum of 100 games played, he ranked first in RBIs (80), batting average (.274), OPS (.810) and slugging percentage (.469), while ranking second in home runs (19) and total bases (190). He was one of only seven rookie catchers since 1947 to reach 35 extra base hits and 78 RBI, and the first to achieve the feat since Geovany Soto in 2008.  

Jacob deGrom – AL Comeback Player

Injuries limited Jacob deGrom to just nine starts in his first two years in Texas, but he regained his dominant form with a return to full health in his third season with the Rangers. DeGrom made his first All-Star team since 2021, while recording his highest strikeout and innings pitched totals since 2019. His 0.93 WHIP was the lowest single-season mark by a qualified pitcher in franchise history, and his 2.97 ERA was the fourth best by a Rangers starter since 2000.

Ronald Acuña – NL Comeback Player

Ronald Acuña has proved time and again that few players in baseball can match his production when healthy. After a historic 2023 campaign in which he led the league in steals, on base percentage, OPS, hits and runs, as well as hitting 41 homers, he appeared in only 49 games in 2024 because of injuries. He came back with a vengeance in 2025, posting a .935 OPS and a 3.1 WAR in 95 games to make his fifth National League All-Star team over a seven-year span.

For more information on the 2025 Players Choice Awards, be sure to visit the link here.