For the third consecutive year, Bryce Harper is the Phillies’ nominee for the Hank Aaron Award.
Named after the late Braves slugger Hank Aaron, the award was established in 1999 “to honor the 25th Anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record.” It’s given to “the best overall offensive performer in each league” as voted on by the fans and a panel of Hall of Famers. Each team nominates one player and a panel of MLB.com writers narrow the field down to seven players from each league.
Chipper Jones, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz are the new voters among the panel of eight Hall of Famers. The returning voters are Johnny Bench, Craig Biggio, Ken Griffey Jr., Eddie Murray and Robin Yount.
Here are the nominees for each league.
National League
American League
Harper is a favorite to take home the award for the second time in his career. He led all of baseball in OPS (1.044), slugging percentage (.615), extra-base hits (78), wOBA (.431) and wRC+ (170).
Ryan Howard (2006) is the only Phillie who has ever won the award. Harper won the Hank Aaron Award in 2015 with the Nationals.
Fans have until Oct. 15 to vote for the winner of the 2021 Hank Aaron Award. The winner will be honored during Game 4 of the World Series. 2021 marks the first time the award will be handed out since Aaron’s passing on Jan. 22, 2021.